CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BOVINE HERPESVIRUS-1 UL8 GENE AND GENE-PRODUCTS

The bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) strain Schonboken UL8 gene and the 5' flanking region were sequenced. Comparison of the UL8 ORF with the pr eviously reported UL8 ORF of BHV-1 strain Cooper revealed significant differences that were mainly due to three frame-shifted segments. Rean alysis of the Cooper sequence after isolation of the respective segmen ts from genomic DNA by PCR did not confirm the discrepancies; on the c ontrary, our results indicate a high degree of sequence conservation b etween the UL8 proteins of different BHV-1 isolates. A monospecific an tiserum, raised against a bacterially expressed TrpE-UL8 fusion protei n, identified the 80 kDa apparent molecular mass UL8 polypeptide which is localized in the nucleus of infected cells. Analysis of transcript s and time-course studies demonstrated that the UL8 protein is transla ted from a delayed-early expressed 3.1 kb polyadenylated mRNA which in itiates within the UL9 ORF.