title: Alastrim smallpox variola minor virus genome DNA sequences.
abstract: Alastrim variola minor virus, which causes mild smallpox, was first recognized in Florida and South America in the late 19th century. Genome linear double-stranded DNA sequences (186,986 bp) of the alastrim virus Garcia-1966, a laboratory reference strain from an outbreak associated with 0.8% case fatalities in Brazil in 1966, were determined except for a 530-bp fragment of hairpin-loop sequences at each terminus. The DNA sequences (EMBL Accession No. Y16780) showed 206 potential open reading frames for proteins containing >/=60 amino acids. The amino acid sequences of the putative proteins were compared with those reported for vaccinia virus strain Copenhagen and the Asian variola major strains India-1967 and Bangladesh-1975. About one-third of the alastrim viral proteins were 100% identical to correlates in the variola major strains and the remainder were >/=95% identical. Compared with variola major virus DNA, alastrim virus DNA has additional segments of 898 and 627 bp, respectively, within the left and right terminal regions. The former segment aligns well with sequences in other orthopoxviruses, particularly cowpox and vaccinia viruses, and the latter is apparently alastrim-specific.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology of Genomes, State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (Vector), Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Region, 633159, Russia. snshchel@vector.nsk.su
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Shchelkunov
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Totmenin
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Loparev
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Safronov
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Gutorov
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Chizhikov
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Massung
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Esposito
mesh_terms: D015096:3-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017089:Ankyrin Repeat; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D015608:Cowpox virus / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D018155:Orthopoxvirus / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000235:genetics; D012901:Variola virus / Q000235:genetics*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C091945:H5R protein, Vaccinia virus; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014764:Viral Proteins; D015096:3-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases