title: Identification of the porcine cytomegalovirus major capsid protein gene.
abstract: A major capsid protein (MCP) gene homologue of porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV) was identified. Sequence analysis indicated that the PCMV MCP gene is 4,026 nucleotides in length encoding a protein of 1,341 amino acid residues. The predicted molecular weight of the PCMV MCP is 151,456 Da, equivalent to those of other herpesvirus MCP counterparts. Phylogenetic analysis using herpesviral MCP gene sequences confirmed that PCMV is a betaherpesvirus with higher homology with human herpesvirus-6 and -7 than human and mouse cytomegaloviruses. The serum of pig experimentally infected with PCMV did not react with bacterially expressed MCP, suggesting that the PCMV MCP may not be related to the humoral immune response in the course of PCMV infection. Also, we established polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocols using primers corresponding to MCP gene sequences for detection of PCMV infection. The PCR protocol would be effective for the diagnosis of slow-growing PCMV infection, for which traditional methods involving virus-isolation are not useful.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Graduate School of Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Japan.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rupasinghe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwatsuki-Horimoto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugii
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horimoto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern / Q000662:veterinary; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D004279:DNA, Viral; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C443660:major capsid protein, Cytomegalovirus