THE COMPLETE MOKOLA VIRUS GENOME SEQUENCE - STRUCTURE OF THE RNA-DEPENDENT RNA-POLYMERASE

The genome sequence of the rabies-related virus Mokola virus (genus Ly ssavirus) has been completed by sequencing the L gene, which consists of 6384 nucleotides encoding a 2127 amino acid polymerase. Alignment o f the Mokola virus L protein with other polymerases from the virus ord er Mononegavirales defined three domains: a divergent NH2-terminal dom ain, a highly conserved central domain carrying most of the functional motifs and a COOH-terminal domain with alternating conserved and dive rgent regions. A statistical study outlined the stringency of conserva tion of glycine, acidic (D, E) and basic (K, R, H) amino acids in poly merases, particularly as key residues of the conserved motifs.