title: Sequence analysis of the Choristoneura occidentalis granulovirus genome.
abstract: The genome of the Choristoneura occidentalis granulovirus (ChocGV) isolated from the western spruce budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis, was sequenced completely. It was 104,710 bp long, with a 67.3% A+T content and contained 116 potential open reading frames (ORFs) covering 88.4% of the genome. Of these, 29 ORFs were conserved in all fully sequenced baculovirus genomes, 30 were GV-specific, 53 were present in some nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs) and/or GVs, three were common to ChocGV and Choristoneura fumiferana GV (ChfuGV) and one was so far unique. To date, ChocGV is the only GV identified that contains a homologue of the apoptosis inhibitor protein P35/P49, present in some group I NPVs. It is also the first GV without a Xestia c-nigrum GV ORF 26 homologue. Five homologous regions (hrs)/repeat regions, lacking typical NPV hr palindromes were identified. ChocGV hrs were similar to each other but not to other GV hrs. A 1.8 kb repeat region with a high A+T content (81%) and multiple repeats of 21-210 bp was found between choc36 and 37. This area resembled the non-homologous region origin of DNA replication (non-hr ori) identified in Cryptophlebia leucotreta GV (CrleGV) and Cydia pomonella GV (CpGV). Based on the mean amino acid identities of homologous proteins, ChocGV was closest to fully sequenced genomes CpGV (52.3%) and CrleGV (52.1%). The closest amino acid identity was to individual ORFs from the partially sequenced ChfuGV genome (97.2% in 38 ORFs). Phylogenetic analysis placed ChocGV in a clade with CrleGV and CpGV.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Virology, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Shannon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Escasa
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Virology, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Hilary A M
authors.initials: HAM
authors.lastname: Lauzon
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Virology, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Amanda C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Krell
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Virology, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada.
authors.forename: Basil M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Arif
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D016367:Baculoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D025722:Granulovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000821:virology*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins