Cloning and molecular characterization of the murine herpesvirus 68 genome

Abstract

Murine herpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) is a naturally occurring herpesvirus of small free-living rodents. In order to facilitate the molecular characterization of the virus genome, a library of cloned restriction fragments has been produced and restriction enzyme cleavage maps deduced for the enzymes BamHI, EcoRI and HindIII. The MHV-68 genome comprises a region of unique DNA of approximately 118 kbp which is flanked by variable numbers of a 1.23 kb repeat unit. The organization of the MHV-68 genome is, therefore, most similar to that of the lymphotropic Y2 group of herpesviruses which include herpesvirus saimiri and herpesvirus ateles.

Disruption of the Murine Gammaherpesvirus 68 M1 Open Reading Frame Leads to Enhanced Reactivation from Latency

“…To better understand gammaherpesvirus pathogenesis, we and others have begun to utilize infection of mice with murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (␥HV68, also referred to as MHV-68) (23, 37). ␥HV68 is a member of the gamma 2 -herpesvirus subfamily based on genome sequence (7,8,13,35).The pathogenesis of ␥HV68 has been reviewed recently (21,23,26,37). Briefly, ␥HV68 infection of inbred mice results in an acute, productive infection of multiple organs and a CD4 ϩ…”

“…To better understand gammaherpesvirus pathogenesis, we and others have begun to utilize infection of mice with murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (␥HV68, also referred to as MHV-68) (23, 37). ␥HV68 is a member of the gamma 2 -herpesvirus subfamily based on genome sequence (7,8,13,35).…”

Vaccine potential of a murine gammaherpesvirus-68 mutant deficient for ORF73

“…Briefly, 450 bp (genomic co-ordinates, 104 379-104 830; Virgin et al, 1997) was deleted from ORF73 within the BamHI G genomic clone (Efstathiou et al, 1990) and the recombinant virus was made by recombination of the mutated BamHI G fragment and MHV-68 BAC pHA3 (Adler et al, 2000). The vaccination protocol utilized is depicted in Fig.…”

Inhibition of MHC class I-restricted antigen presentation by γ2-herpesviruses

“…The murine ␥-herpesvirus 68 (␥HV-68) is a ␥2-herpesvirus of small rodents that is closely related to the Kaposi's sarcomaassociated virus (KSHV) in humans (9,10). Infection of conventional mice with ␥HV-68 causes an infectious mononucleosislike illness (11)(12)(13) and elicits a strong CTL response (14).…”