ANALYSIS OF THE OPEN READING FRAMES OF THE MAIN CAPSID PROTEINS OF ACTINOPHAGE VWB

The nucleotide sequence of a 6 kb fragment encoding the main late prot eins (p14, p38 and p24) of actinophage VWB was obtained. Sequence comp arison of the encoded proteins with those filed in databases indicated that the phage VWB main late proteins were all novel. A search for sp ecial motifs revealed that p14 (13.3 kDa) has a P-loop sequence common ly found in ATP- and GTP-binding proteins. This observation might indi cate that p14 is important for ATP-driven DNA translocation during enc apsidation of VWB phage DNA into the phage head. Furthermore, the poly peptide ORF2 (26.9 kDa) has an unusual primary structure consisting of 3 stretches of acidic amino acid residues and a glycine/arginine rich C-terminal end. From comparison with other proteins including the bac teriophage T4 prohead core component and from the data of special moti f analysis the ORF2 gene product is probably involved in prohead core formation.