Nucleotide Sequence and Variability of the Inverted Terminal Repetitions of African Swine Fever Virus DNA

• Published in: Virology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 201; no. 1; pp. 152 - 156
• Main Authors: de la Vega, Inmaculada, González, Antonio, Blasco, Rafael, Calvo, Victor, Viñuela, Eladio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 15.05.1994; Elsevier
• Subjects: ADN; African swine fever virus; African Swine Fever Virus - genetics; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; CLONE; CLONES; Cloning, Molecular; DNA, Viral - genetics; DNA, Viral - isolation & purification; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Variation; Genetics; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics; Restriction Mapping; SECUENCIA NUCLEICA; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; SEQUENCE NUCLEIQUE; Virology; VIRUS DE LA PESTE PORCINA AFRICANA; VIRUS PESTE PORCINE AFRICAINE; Virus; African swine fever virus; Iridoviridae; Nucleotide sequence; Inverted repeated sequence; DNA
• ISSN: 0042-6822; 1096-0341
• DOI: 10.1006/viro.1994.1277

African Swine fever virus (ASFV) genome is a large (170-190 kb) double-stranded DNA molecule with structural features similar to those of Poxviruses. Prominent among those features are the presence of a hairpin loop structure at the end of the DNA molecule and terminal-inverted repeats (TIR). The TIRs have been previously demonstrated by electron microscopy and cross-hybridization of terminal restriction fragments. We have determined the sequence of both left and right DNA ends from the BA71V virus strain. The TIR is composed of 2134 bp and was identical at both genome ends. As much as 82% of the TIR sequence is made up of short (27-35 bp) sequences repeated within the TIR, in five different sets of repeats. The central portion of the TIR is occupied by a 34-bp sequence which is repeated in tandem 33 times. Length differences were found within TIRs of virus clones isolated from a single infected animal. The ASFV TIR resembles in structure the TIR of the related Poxviruses.