Bovine herpesvirus type 2 is closely related to the primate alphaherpesviruses

Bovine herpesvirus type 2 (BoHV-2), also known as bovine mammillitis virus, is classified in the Family Herpesviridae, Subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae, a nd Genus Simplexvirus along with herpes simplex viruses type 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and other primate simplexviruses on the basis of similarities i n 4 genes within the 15 kb U-L 23-29 cluster. This could be explained eithe r by a global similarity or a recombination event that brought primate herp esviral sequences into a bovine virus. Our sequences for DNA polymerase (U( L)30), a large gene adjacent to the previously identified conserved cluster , and glycoprotein G (U(S)4), a gene as distant from the cluster as possibl e on the circularized genome, confirm the close relationship between BoHV-2 and the primate simplexviruses, and argue for a global similarity and prob ably a close evolutionary relationship. Thus one can speculate that BoHV-2 may represent a greater hazard to humans than has been appreciated previous ly.