title: Two families of sequences in the small RNA-encoding region of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) correlate with EBV types A and B.
abstract: DNA sequence analysis was carried out on the 1-kilobase SacI-EcoRI region of the EcoRI J fragment of four strains of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) (MABA, P3HR-1, FF41, and NPC-5), and the sequences were compared with the prototype sequence from strain B95-8. Ten single-base changes which grouped the strains into two families (1 and 2) were found. Restriction endonuclease polymorphisms predicted from the sequences were used to classify the EBV DNA from a further 26 EBV-positive cell lines into these two families. The EBNA-2 types (A or B) of the strains were found to correlate with the J region type; EBNA-2 type A DNA regularly contained J region sequence type 1, while EBNA-2 type B DNA generally carried J region sequence type 2. These data are consistent with the notion of there being two distinct families of EBV with discrete, conserved differences in DNA sequence.
authors.affiliation: Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Christie Hospital & Holt Radium Institute, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Arrand
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Tugwood
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral