title: Primary structural comparison of RNA-dependent polymerases from plant, animal and bacterial viruses.
abstract: Possible alignments for portions of the genomic codons in eight different plant and animal viruses are presented: tobacco mosaic, brome mosaic, alfalfa mosaic, sindbis, foot-and-mouth disease, polio, encephalomyocarditis, and cowpea mosaic viruses. Since in one of the viruses (polio) the aligned sequence has been identified as an RNA-dependent polymerase, this would imply the identification of the polymerases in the other viruses. A conserved fourteen-residue segment consisting of an Asp-Asp sequence flanked by hydrophobic residues has also been found in retroviral reverse transcriptases, a bacteriophage, influenza virus, cauliflower mosaic virus and hepatitis B virus, suggesting this span as a possible active site or nucleic acid recognition region for the polymerases. Evolutionary implications are discussed.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005537:Aphthovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004686:Encephalomyocarditis virus / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes; D005814:Genes, Viral; D009029:Mosaic Viruses / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics*; D012845:Sindbis Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014780:Viruses / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase