Identification and sequence analysis of the Marek's disease virus serotype2 gene homologous to the herpes simplex virus type 1 UL52 protein

The gene of Marek's disease virus serotype 2 (MDV2) homologous to the UL52 gene of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-I) was identified and characterize d. The MDV2 UL52 homologous gene encodes 1,071 amino acids with a molecular weight of 118.7 kDa, which includes putative metal-binding site and overla pping region with the UL53 homologous gene. Although a putative polyadenyla tion signal sequence was found in the downstream of the MDV2 UL52 gene, a M DV1 UL52 DNA probe reacted only with the polycistronic 6.3 kb transcript, r epresenting the UL52 and the downstream genes of UL53 and UL54. Transcripti onal pattern of this region of MDV2 was somewhat different from correspondi ng regions of HSV-I and infectious laryngotracheitis virus.