Genome sequences of two frog herpesviruses

The sequences of two frog herpesviruses, Ranid herpesvirus 1 and Ranid herpesvirus 2, were determined. They are respectively 220 859 and 231 801 bp in size and contain 132 and 147 predicted genes. The genomes are related most closely in the central regions, where 40 genes are conserved convincingly. Nineteen of these genes are also conserved in a fish herpesvirus, Ictalurid herpesvirus 1. The terminal regions of the genomes are largely not conserved and contain many of the 15 families of related genes present in each genome. The frog herpesviruses are unique among sequenced herpesviruses in that the three exons of the gene encoding the putative ATPase subunit of terminase are not specified by the same DNA strand and in that they encode a putative DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase and have extensively methylated genomes.