NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE THYMIDINE KINASE GENE OF RACCOON POXVIRUS

Using primers directed against the thymidine kinase gene of vaccinia v irus, PCR products were generated from nucleic acids extracted from ra ccoon poxvirus-infected Vero cells. The PCR products were consistent i n size with the expected products from vaccinia virus, Nucleotide sequ ence determination revealed that the raccoon pox thymidine kinase gene and flanking regions were 84.3% homologous to the corresponding seque nces of vaccinia virus. At the amino acid level, an open reading frame coding for a polypeptide of 177 amino acids was found with 87% homolo gy to thymidine kinase of vaccinia.