title: Identification of the thymidylate synthase within the genome of white spot syndrome virus.
abstract: Thymidylate synthase (TS) (EC 2.1.1.45) is essential for the de novo synthesis of dTMP in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Within the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) genome, an open reading frame (WSV067) that encodes a 289 amino acid polypeptide showed significant homology to all known TSs from species including mammals, plants, fungi, protozoa, bacteria and DNA viruses. In this study, WSV067 was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the purified recombinant protein showed TS activity in dUMP-folate-binding assays using ultraviolet difference spectroscopy. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses showed that WSV067 was a genuine and early gene. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that WSSV-TS was more closely related to the TSs of eukaryotes than to those from prokaryotes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, SOA, 178 Daxue Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
authors.forename: Deng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Hai
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, SOA, 178 Daxue Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003400:Astacoidea; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D013940:Thymidylate Synthase