Complete genome sequence analysis of Seneca Valley virus-001, a novel oncolytic picornavirus

1 Neotropix, Inc., 351 Phoenixville Pike, Malvern, PA 19355, USA 2 Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, Woking GU24 0NF, UK 3 Human Genome Sciences, 9920 Belward Campus Dr., Rockville, MD 20850, USA 4 MedImmune, Inc., One MedImmune Way, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA Correspondence Paul L. Hallenbeck phallenbeck{at}neotropix.com The complete genome sequence of Seneca Valley virus-001 (SVV-001), a small RNA virus, was determined and was shown to have typical picornavirus features. The 7280 nt long genome was predicted to contain a 5' untranslated region (UTR) of 666 nt, followed by a single long open reading frame consisting of 6543 nt, which encodes a 2181 aa polyprotein. This polyprotein could potentially be cleaved into 12 polypeptides in the standard picornavirus L-4-3-4 layout. A 3' UTR of 71 nt was followed by a poly(A) tail of unknown length. Comparisons with other picornaviruses showed that the P1, 2C, 3C and 3D polypeptides of SVV-001 were related most closely to those of the cardioviruses, although they were not related as closely to those of encephalomyocarditis virus and Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus as the latter were to each other. Most other regions of the polyprotein differed considerably from those of all other known picornaviruses. SVV-001 contains elements of an internal ribosome entry site reminiscent of that found in hepatitis C virus and a number of genetically diverse picornaviruses. SVV-001 is a novel picornavirus and it is proposed that it be classified as the prototype species in a novel genus named ‘ Senecavirus ’. These authors contributed equally to this paper. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the complete genome sequence of SVV-001 is DQ641257.