Analysis of porcine cytomegalovirus DNA polymerase by consensus primer PCR

We used a consensus primer PCR method to amplify a region of herpesviral DN A-directed DNA polymerase gene using degenerate primers for initial charact erization of the porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV) genome. The sequence of the PCR product from PCMV DNA template and its alignment with other herpesviru s DNA polymerase counterparts showed that both conserved amino acid residue s and conservative amino acid substitutions are in parallel. Phylogenetic a nalysis revealed that PCMV should be included in the clade comprising human herpesvirus 6 and 7, rather than human and mouse cytomegaloviruses, in Bet aherpesvirus subfamily.