Cloning and Sequence Analysis of the Newly Identified DEV UL18 Gene

摘要

In this study, the DEV UL18 gene was cloned and sequenced. DNA sequence analysis showed that the nucleotides sequence of the full DEV UL18 gene was 969 bp in length and contained a single ORE, which consisted of 27S adenine (28.38%), 225 cytosine (23.22%), 217 guanine (22.39%), 252 thymine (26.01%) and a GC content 45.61%. Comparison with other alphaherpesviruses revealed that the nucleotide sequence of the DEV UL18 gene was highly similar to those of other herpesviruses, having a homology of 53.2% with EHV-4,53.2% with EHV-9,52.8% with EHV1,55.6% with HH-3,54.5% with FeHV-1,43.1% with GaHV1,34.0% with GaHV-2,32.4% with GaHV-333.2% with MeHV1,50.6% with SuHV-1,42.8% with PsHV-1. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that DEV had a close evolutionary relationship with the subtree of the genus Mardivirus, including MeHV-1, GaHV-2, and GaHV-3. It was suggested that GaHV-2, GaHV-3, MeHV-1, and DEV might come from a common ancestor.