Gene organization in the UL region and inverted repeats of the canine herpesvirus genome

1 Laboratoire Virologie de l'Herpes, UPR9045, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 7 rue Guy Moquet, 94801 Villejuif 2 Laboratoire Central de Recherches Vétérinaires, Centre National d'Etudes Vétérinaires et Alimentaires, BP 67, 94703 Maisons-Alfort, France Restriction mapping and the determination of scattered nucleotide sequences have permitted a description of the global structure and evolutionary affinities of the canine herpesvirus (CHV) genome. The global structure closely resembles that of the totally sequenced genomes of varicella-zoster virus and equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) in having a 37 bp inverted repeat flanking a long unique region (U L ) of approximately 100000 bp, and a 10100–10700 bp inverted repeat flanking a short unique region (U S ) of roughly 7400–8600 bp. On the basis of the sequences obtained, 35 homologues to previously identified herpesvirus gene products were found in U L and the major inverted repeat, and the level of the similarities indicated that CHV belongs to the genus Varicellovirus . Within the genus, CHV appears to be most closely related to EHV-1, pseudorabies virus and feline herpesvirus. Surprisingly, genes for both subunits of the viral ribonucleotide reductase were found to be missing from their equivalent place in other herpesvirus genomes. Either they have been translocated to another position in the CHV genome or, we think more likely, they have been lost. * Author for correspondence. Fax +33 1 47 26 88 36. Present address: Laboratoire de Biochimie des Signaux Régulateurs Cellulaires et Moléculaires, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 96 Boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris, France. Accounts of our work were presented at the 17th International Herpesvirus Workshop, Edinburgh, UK, August 1992 and at the 20th International Herpesvirus Workshop, Groningen, The Netherlands, August 1995. Sequence data have been deposited with the EMBL databank under the accession numbers X75765 [GenBank] , X89243 [GenBank] , X89373 [GenBank] , X89432 [GenBank] , X89433 [GenBank] , X89471 [GenBank] -474, X89500 [GenBank] -502, X89567 [GenBank] , X90415 [GenBank] -452, X90456 [GenBank] , X90457 [GenBank] and X92066 [GenBank] -068. Received 13 July 1995; accepted 18 September 1995.