Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Department of

 

Date of this Version

2014

Citation

JGV Papers in Press. Published May 16, 2014 as doi:10.1099/vir.0.066951-0

Comments

This article is a U.S. government work, and is not subject to copyright in the United States.

Abstract

The genus Macavirus of the subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae includes viruses that infect lymphoid cells of domestic and wild ruminants and swine, causing asymptomatic latent infections in reservoir hosts. Here, we describe the genome of bovine herpesvirus 6 (BoHV-6), a

macavirus ubiquitous in healthy cattle populations. The BoHV-6 genome exhibited architecture conserved in macaviruses, including a repetitive H-DNA region and unique, 141 kilobase pair L

DNA region predicted to encode 77 genes. BoHV-6 encoded in variable genomic regions a novel complement of genes relative to other characterized macaviruses, likely contributing to distinctive aspects of BoHV-6 infection biology and host range. Most notably, BoHV-6 encoded the first herpesviral protein (Bov2.b2) similar to cellular ornithine decarboxylase, an enzyme that catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis of polyamines. Bov2.b2 conceivably mediates a novel mechanism by which BoHV-6 promotes cell cycle-dependent viral replication.

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