title: Two types of deletions in orthopoxvirus genomes.
abstract: The genome nucleotide sequences of two strains of variola major virus and one strain of vaccinia virus were compared. One hundred and sixty-eight short (less than 100 bp in length) and eight long (more than 900 bp in length) deletions, four deletion/insertion regions, and four regions of multiple mutational differences between variola and vaccinia virus DNAs were revealed. Short deletions generally occur at directly repeated sequences of 3-21 bp. Long deletions showed no evidence of repeated sequences at their points of junction. We suggest the presence of a consensus sequence characteristic of these junctions and propose that there is a virus-encoded enzyme that produces this nonhomologous recombination/deletion in the cytoplasm of the infected cell.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian State Research Center NPO Vector, Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Shchelkunov
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Totmenin
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018155:Orthopoxvirus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D012901:Variola virus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins