title: Whole genome analysis of the Epiphyas postvittana nucleopolyhedrovirus.
abstract: The nucleotide sequence of the Epiphyas postvittana nucleopolyhedrovirus (EppoMNPV) genome has been determined and analysed. The circular dsDNA genome contains 118584 bp, making it the smallest group I NPV sequenced to date. The genome has a G+C content of 40.7% and encodes 136 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), five homologous repeat regions and one unique repeat region. Of the genome, 92.9% encodes predicted ORFs and 2.2% is in repeat regions; the remaining 4.9% of the genome comprises nonrepeat intergenic regions. EppoMNPV encodes homologues of 126 Orgyia pseudotsugata MNPV (OpMNPV) ORFs and 120 Autographa californica MNPV ORFs, with average identities of 64.7 and 53.5%, respectively. Between the four sequenced group I NPVs, 117 ORFs are conserved, whereas 86 ORFs are conserved between all fully sequenced NPVs. A total of 62 ORFs is present in all baculoviruses sequenced to date, with EppoMNPV lacking a homologue of the superoxide dismutase (sod) gene, which has been found in all other fully sequenced baculoviruses. Whole genome phylogenetic analyses of the ten fully sequenced baculoviruses using the sequences of the 62 shared genes, gene content and gene order data sets confirmed that EppoMNPV clusters tightly with OpMNPV in the group I NPVs. The main variation between EppoMNPV and OpMNPV occurs where extra clusters of genes are present in OpMNPV, with sod occurring in one such cluster. EppoMNPV encodes one truncated baculovirus repeated ORF (bro) gene. The only repeated ORFs are the four iap genes. Eight, randomly distributed, unique ORFs were identified on EppoMNPV, none of which show any significant homology to genes in GenBank.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hyink
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Ross A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Dellow
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Katherine M B
authors.initials: KMB
authors.lastname: Caradoc-Davies
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Kylie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Drake
authors.affiliation: Ecology and Biocontrol Group, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK3.|Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, UK2.
authors.forename: Elisabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Herniou
authors.affiliation: Ecology and Biocontrol Group, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK3.
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cory
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, UK2.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand1.
authors.forename: Vernon K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Ward
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000821:virology*; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid