title: The open reading frame ORF S3 of equine infectious anemia virus is expressed during the viral life cycle.
abstract: The genome of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) contains several small open reading frames (ORFs), the importance of which in the development of the virus is not clear. We investigated the possibility that the largest of these ORFs (ORF S3) is expressed during the course of the viral infection. The ORF S3 information was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the antigen was used to raise monospecific antiserum. A 20-kDa protein expressed in cells producing EIAV was identified as the gene product of ORF S3. Furthermore, sera from EIAV-infected animals specifically recognized this protein, indicating that the ORF S3 antigen is expressed in vivo as well. A model for the expression of this new viral antigen is presented. The proposed splicing pattern is similar to that of the VEP-1 protein of maedi-visna-virus, which tempts us to speculate that ORF S3 defines the second exon of the EIAV Rev protein.
authors.affiliation: N.V. Innogenetics Research Laboratories, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saman
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Breugelmans
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heyndrickx
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Merregaert
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D006736:Horses; D004860:Infectious Anemia Virus, Equine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins