title: Sequencing and characterization of Varicella-zoster virus vaccine strain SuduVax.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes chickenpox in children and shingles in older people. Currently, live attenuated vaccines based on the Oka strain are available worldwide. In Korea, an attenuated VZV vaccine has been developed from a Korean isolate and has been commercially available since 1994. Despite this long history of use, the mechanism for the attenuation of the vaccine strain is still elusive. We attempted to understand the molecular basis of attenuation mechanism by full genome sequencing and comparative genomic analyses of the Korean vaccine strain SuduVax.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SuduVax was found to contain a genome that was 124,759 bp and possessed 74 open reading frames (ORFs). SuduVax was genetically most close to Oka strains and these Korean-Japanese strains formed a strong clade in phylogenetic trees. SuduVax, similar to the Oka vaccine strains, underwent T- > C substitution at the stop codon of ORF0, resulting in a read-through mutation to code for an extended form of ORF0 protein. SuduVax also shared certain deletion and insertion mutations in ORFs 17, 29, 56 and 60 with Oka vaccine strains and some clinical strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Korean VZV vaccine strain SuduVax is genetically similar to the Oka vaccine strains. Further comparative genomic and bioinformatics analyses will help to elucidate the molecular basis of the attenuation of the VZV vaccine strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Ik
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Gyoo Seung
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Yu Young
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ga Young
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Hyung Seok
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Wen Dan
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ho Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Song Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Geun Hee
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Shi Nae
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Keon Myung
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jin Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Yeup
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Chan Hee
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D019295:Computational Biology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins