title: A homologue of retroviral pseudoproteases in the parapoxvirus, orf virus.
abstract: The nucleotide sequence of a near-terminal region of orf virus DNA was determined. Examination of the sequence revealed an open reading frame encoding a peptide with significant amino acid homology to the pseudoprotease domains recently identified in a number of retroviruses including mouse mammary tumor virus, simian Mason-Pfizer virus, maedi-visna virus, and equine infectious anaemia virus. The orf virus pseudoprotease shares up to 28% amino acid homology with retroviral pseudoproteases and appears to be a discrete transcriptional unit rather than a subunit of a larger polypeptide as is the case in retroviruses. The sharing of amino acid composition across such wide taxonomic boundaries suggests that this polypeptide has a functional significance in both retroviruses and poxviruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mercer
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Stockwell
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009923:Orf virus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D011212:Poxviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases