CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF THE L1 GENE OF CANINE ORAL PAPILLOMAVIRUS

Canine oral papillomavirus (COPV) DNA was isolated from two different sources. One of these DNAs was molecularly cloned and its physical map was determined. Hybridization analyses using subgenomic fragments of bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) and human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) as probes revealed that the cloned COPV shared moderate homolo gy within the E1 and L1 regions of BPV-1 and HPV16, whereas homology i n other regions of BPV-1 and HPV16 was low. The putative L1 gene of CO PV was sequenced and several conserved regions, including antigenic ep itopes which are common in other known papillomaviruses, were analyzed .