ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLETE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER VIRUS

We present an analysis of the complete genome of African swine fever v irus (ASFV) strain BA71V, including 80 kbp of novel sequence and 90 kb p previously reported by several authors. The viral DNA is 170,101 nuc leotides long and contains 151 open reading frames. Structural and/or functional information is available on 113 viral proteins. ASFV encode s five multigene families, putative membrane and secreted proteins, an d enzymes involved in nucleotide and nucleic acid metabolism (includin g DNA repair) and protein modification. Database comparisons have prov ided clues about genes that may modulate the virus-host interaction, t hus, possibly controlling ASFV virulence and persistence. The virus po ssesses genes similar to CD2, /kappa B, C-type lectins, MyD116/gadd34/ gamma(1) 34.5, bcl-2/bax, iap, NifS, and ERV1, which may allow a viral regulation of cell adhesion, apoptosis, and redox metabolism, as well as of the host immune response against ASFV infection. The proteins e ncoded by different ASFV isolates are highly similar, the most variabl e ones being those belonging to multigene families, some membrane prot eins, and those containing tandem repeats. DNA sequence data confirm t he intermediate characteristics of ASFV between poxviruses and iridovi ruses, supporting the notion that ASFV belongs to an independent virus family. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.