THE AFRICAN SWINE FEVER VIRUS IAP HOMOLOG IS A LATE STRUCTURAL POLYPEPTIDE

dThe analysis of the complete nucleotide sequence of the African swine fever virus genome has revealed the existence of a number of genes po tentially capable of modifying the host's response to the virus infect ion. In this report, we describe the results of the characterization o f the A224L gene that encodes a novel member of the family of apoptosi s inhibitors known as IAP proteins. A224L is expressed during the late phase of the infectious cycle, and its polypeptide product is assembl ed into virus particles. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.