The genome of herpesvirus papio 2 is closely related to the genomes of human herpes simplex viruses.
Infection of baboons (Papio species) with herpesvirus papio 2 (HVP-2) produces a disease that is clinically similar to herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2) infection of humans. The development of a primate model of simplexvirus infection based on HVP-2 would provide a powerful resource to study virus biology and test vaccine strategies. In order to characterize the molecular biology of HVP-2 and justify further development of this model system we have constructed a physical map of the HVP-2 genome. The results of these studies have identified the presence of 26 reading frames that closely resemble HSV homologues. Furthermore, the HVP-2 genome shares a collinear arrangement with the genome of HSV. These studies further validate the development of the HVP-2 model as a surrogate system to study the biology of HSV infections.
Bigger
John E
JE
Department of Virology and Immunology, The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, 7620 NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78227-5301, USA.
Martin
David W
DW
Department of Virology and Immunology, The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, 7620 NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78227-5301, USA.
D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D016679:Genome, Viral; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010215:Papio; D016364:Reading Frames; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity