title: Nucleotide sequence and transcriptional studies of the vaccinia virus KpnI I DNA fragment.
abstract: The nucleotide sequence of the vaccinia virus (VV) KpnI I DNA fragment has been determined. This central, highly conserved portion of the VV genome corresponds to the right portion of the HindIII E, all of the HindIII O and P, and the left portion of the HindIII I DNA fragments. Computer-assisted analysis of this data indicated the presence of five tandemly oriented, leftward-reading open reading frames (ORFs) I-4, I-3, I-2, I-1, and O-1, with the I-4 ORF being an immediate early gene encoding the large M1 subunit of VV ribonucleotide reductase. Transcriptional analyses suggested that the I-3 and O-1 genes were constitutive genes, being expressed both before and after viral DNA synthesis. The I-1 and I-2 genes were late genes, expressed only after the initiation of viral DNA synthesis. Cell-free translation was used to confirm that the I-3, I-1, and O-1 ORFs were bonafide messages encoding proteins with molecular weights of 30, 35, and 71 kD, respectively. When the predicted amino acid sequences of the proteins encoded by the I-3, I-2, I-1, and O-1 genes were compared to the Genbank data base, no significant alignments were detected. Therefore, the biological functions of these proteins in the VV life cycle remain to be established.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Tengelsen
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Hruby
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003062:Codon; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015247:Deoxyribonuclease HindIII; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D004279:DNA, Viral; D015247:Deoxyribonuclease HindIII