Terminal region sequence variations in variola virus DNA.
Genome DNA terminal region sequences were determined for a Brazilian alastrim variola minor virus strain Garcia-1966 that was associated with an 0.8% case-fatality rate and African smallpox strains Congo-1970 and Somalia-1977 associated with variola major (9.6%) and minor (0.4%) mortality rates, respectively. A base sequence identity of > or = 98.8% was determined after aligning 30 kb of the left- or right-end region sequences with cognate sequences previously determined for Asian variola major strains India-1967 (31% death rate) and Bangladesh-1975 (18.5% death rate). The deduced amino acid sequences of putative proteins of > or = 65 amino acids also showed relatively high identity, although the Asian and African viruses were clearly more related to each other than to alastrim virus. Alastrim virus contained only 10 of 70 proteins that were 100% identical to homologs in Asian strains, and 7 alastrim-specific proteins were noted.
Massung
R F
RF
Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA.
Loparev
V N
VN
Knight
J C
JC
Totmenin
A V
AV
Chizhikov
V E
VE
Parsons
J M
JM
Safronov
P F
PF
Gutorov
V V
VV
Shchelkunov
S N
SN
Esposito
J J
JJ
D000349:Africa; D001208:Asia; D001483:Base Sequence; D001938:Brazil; D004279:DNA, Viral; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012901:Variola virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins