title: Hairpin loop structure of African swine fever virus DNA.
abstract: The ends of African swine fever virus genome are formed by a 37 nucleotide-long hairpin loop composed, almost entirely, of incompletely paired A and T residues. The loops at each DNA end were present in two equimolar forms that, when compared in opposite polarities, were inverted and complementary (flip-flop), as in the case of poxvirus DNA. The hairpin loops of African swine fever and vaccinia virus DNAs had no homology, but both DNAs had a 16 nucleotide-long sequence, close to the hairpin loops, with an homology of about 80%. An analysis of African swine fever virus replicating DNA showed head-to-head and tail-to-tail linked molecules that may be replicative intermediates.
mesh_terms: D000358:African Swine Fever Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007497:Iridoviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral