NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF CANINE HERPESVIRUS HOMOLOGS OF HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE-1 US2, US3, GLYCOPROTEIN-I AND GLYCOPROTEIN-E, US8.5 AND US9 GENES

The partial nucleotide sequence of two BamHI fragments that span the u nique short region (US), terminal repeat region (TR) and internal repe at region (IR) of canine herpesvirus (CHV) has been determined. Data o btained revealed several open reading frames (ORF's) identified as the US2, US3, gI, gE and US9 homologues of herpes simplex virus type 1 (H SV1). The CHV homologues also show significant identity in amino acid sequence with those encoded by feline herpesvirus type 1 (FHV1), bovin e herpesvirus (BHV1) and equine herpesvirus (EHV1). Translation of ano ther ORF showed little amino acid identity with the gene products of o ther alpha-herpesviruses. Its genomic position relative to the other C HV homologues would suggest it is the US8.5 gene of CHV.