THE DNA-SEQUENCE OF EQUINE HERPESVIRUS-4

The complete DNA sequence of equine herpesvirus-4 (EHV-4) strain NS805 67 was determined. The genome is 145 597 bp in size and consists of a long unique region (U-L, 112 398 bp) Ranked by a short inverted repeat (TRL/IRL, 27 bp) linked to a short unique region (U-S, 12789 bp) Rank ed by a substantial inverted repeat (TRS/IRS, 10178 bp), EHV-4 is pred icted to contain 76 different genes; three of these are present twice in TRS/IRS, giving a total of 79 genes. The closely related virus equi ne herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) also possesses 76 different genes correspondi ng to those of EHV-4, but has a total of 80 genes because four are pre sent twice in TFS/IRS,. Interpretations of the coding capacity of the EHV-4 and EHV-1 genomes were refined by comparing the complete DNA seq uences.