title: Identification of new herpesvirus gene homologs in the human genome.
abstract: Viruses are intracellular parasites that use many cellular pathways during their replication. Large DNA viruses, such as herpesviruses, have captured a repertoire of cellular genes to block or mimic host immune responses, apoptosis regulation, and cell-cycle control mechanisms. We have conducted a systematic search for all homologs of herpesvirus proteins in the human genome using position-specific scoring matrices representing herpesvirus protein sequence domains, and pair-wise sequence comparisons. The analysis shows that approximately 13% of the herpesvirus proteins have clear sequence similarity to products of the human genome. Different human herpesviruses vary in their numbers of human homologs, indicating distinct rates of gene acquisition in different lineages. Our analysis has identified new families of herpesvirus/human homologs from viruses including human herpesvirus 5 (human cytomegalovirus; HCMV) and human herpesvirus 8 (Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus; KSHV), which may play important roles in host-virus interactions.
authors.affiliation: Wohl Virion Centre, Department of Immunology and Molecular Pathology, University College London, London W1T 4JF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holzerlandt
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Orengo
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kellam
authors.forename: M Mar
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Albà
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D030562:Databases, Protein; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D015894:Genome, Human; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D008381:Herpesvirus 2, Gallid / Q000235:genetics; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014170:Transformation, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins