HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (HCMV) SMALLEST CAPSID PROTEIN IDENTIFIED AS PRODUCT OF SHORT OPEN READING FRAME LOCATED BETWEEN HCMV UL48 AND UL49

The capsid of cytomegalovirus contains an abundant, lo,v-molecular-wei ght protein whose coding sequence within the viral genome had not been identified. We have used a combination of biochemical and immunologic al techniques to demonstrate that this protein, called the smallest ca psid protein in human cytomegalovirus, is encoded by a previously unid entified 225-bp open reading frame (ORF) located between ORFs UL48 and UL49. This short ORF, called UL48/49, is the positional homolog of he rpes simplex virus ORF UL35 (encoding capsid protein VP26) and shows p artial amino acid sequence identity to positional homologs in human he rpes viruses 6 and 7.