THE COMPLETE DNA-SEQUENCE OF LYMPHOCYSTIS DISEASE VIRUS

Lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) is the causative agent of lymphocyst is disease, which has been reported to occur in over 100 different fis h species worldwide. LCDV is a member of the family Iridoviridae and t he type species of the genus Lymphocystivirus, The Virions contain a s ingle linear double-stranded DNA molecule, which is circularly permute d, terminally redundant, and heavily methylated at cytosines in CpG se quences. The complete nucleotide sequence of LCDV-1 (flounder isolate) was determined by automated cycle sequencing and primer walking. The genome of LCDV-1 is 102.653 bp in length and contains 195 open reading frames with coding capacities ranging from 40 to 1199 amino acids. Co mputer-assisted analyses of the deduced amino acid sequences led to th e identification of several putative gene products with significant ho mologies to entries in protein data banks, such as the two major subun its of the viral DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, DNA polymerase, several protein kinases, two subunits of the ribonucleoside diphosphate reduc tase, DNA methyltransferase, the viral major capsid protein, insulin-l ike growth factor, and tumor necrosis factor receptor homolog. (C) 199 7 Academic Press.