NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE AND MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF THE RHESUS CYTOMEGALOVIRUS IMMEDIATE-EARLY GENE AND THE UL121-117 OPEN READING FRAMES

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been isolated from many nonhuman primates, i ncluding rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). To better understand the mo lecular biology of rhesus CMV (RhCMV), a 9.2-kb DNA restriction fragme nt spanning the immediate-early (IE) gene has been molecularly cloned and sequenced. Open reading frames (ORF) have been identified and tran scripts mapped for regions corresponding to exons 1, 2, 3, and 4 of th e IE1 protein of human CMV (HCMV) and to exons 1, 2, 3, and 5 of IE2. The predicted RhCMV IE1 protein was 29 and 40% identical with the HCMV and African green monkey (AGM) CMV IE1 proteins, respectively, and th e predicted RhCMV IE2 protein was 48 and 65% identical with the HCMV a nd AGM CMV IE2 proteins, respectively. Five additional ORF 3' to the R hCMV IE gene were identified which contained significant homologies wi th the HCMV UL121-UL117 ORF. The predicted translation products ranged from 29 to 47% identical with, and 52 to 66% similarity to, the corre sponding ORF of HCMV. Conservation of nucleic and amino acid sequences , and colinearity of genes, between primate CMV genomes contribute to a better understanding of primate CMV evolution, regulation, and patho genesis. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.