title: The Epstein-Barr virus genome encodes deoxythymidine kinase activity in a nested internal open reading frame.
abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BXLF1 fragment open reading frame (LORF), though to encode deoxythymidine kinase (dTK) activity, and a shorter frame (SORF), starting at an internal in-frame AUG, were isolated by polymerase chain reaction from a plasmid containing the EcoR1 fragment of EBV strain FF-41. These were transfected into dTK-Escherichia coli, producing multiple SORF- or LORF-containing colonies, which expressed dTK. The 243 NH2-terminal residues of the LORF-encoded polypeptide thus are not essential for dTK activity. SORF, with 1,092 bp, is predicted to encode a 36- to 37-kD polypeptide, in the size range of other herpesviral dTKs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson 39216-4505, USA.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Holton
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Gentry
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D013937:Thymidine Kinase