Nucleotide sequence and transcriptional analysis of the p10 gene of Spodoptera exigua nuclear polyhedrosis virus

Abstract

The pl0 gene of Spodoptera exigua multiple nuclear polyhedrosis virus (SeMNPV) was localized on the XbaI fragment H (5.1 kb) of the physical map of the viral genome. The coding sequence of the SeMNPV pl0 gene is 264 nucleotides (nt) long corresponding to a predicted protein of 88 amino acids with an MuF of 9607. The SeMNPV pl0 protein showed only limited amino acid identity (39 % and 26 %, respectively) to those of Orgyia pseudotsugata MNPV (OpMNPV) and Autographa californica MNPV (AcMNPV) and thus appears less conserved than other viral proteins. The SeMNPV pl0 gene was expressed by a transcript of approximately 450 nt, which started in the conserved baculovirus late gene promoter motifTAAG. The leader of the SeMNPV pl0 transcript was AT-rich (92 %) and at 36 nt was the shortest leader of all baculovirus major late genes reported so far. The SeMPNV pl 0 transcript terminated 6nt downstream from a putative poly(A) signal sequence (AATAAA); the latter was 61 nt downstream of the translational stop codon TAA. Upstream and downstream of the p 10 gene, partial putative ORFs were found that showed significant amino acid sequence identity to the baculovirus p26 and p74 proteins. It is concluded that the region of SeMNPV DNA containing the p 10 gene is collinear with the corresponding regions in the AcMNPV and OpMNPV genomes.

The p10 gene of Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus: nucleotide sequence, transcriptional analysis and unique gene organization in the p10 locus.

“…1, nt 1368-1389) were observed. Similar repeats were observed in other locations in the SpliMNPV genome, as well as in the SeMNPV genome in the 5h nontranslated region of the p10 gene (Zuidema et al, 1993) and in the intergenic region between the ORF v-ubi and xb187 (van Strien et al, 1996). The function of these repeats, if any, is unknown.…”

“…This (Croizier & Croizier, 1994) and CfMNPV (Qiu et al, 1996) and as described previously (van Strien et al, 1996) ; p10 gene (p10) as described in Fig. 4 ; ORF552 and its similar ORFs in SeMNPV (xb187), AcMNPV (ORF34 ; Ayres et al, 1994) and OpMNPV (ORF26) as described previously (Ahrens et al, 1997) ; ubiquitin gene (v-ubi) as described previously (van Strien et al, 1996) ; ecdysteroid UDPglucosyltransferase gene (egt) in SpliMNPV (Faktor et al, 1995), CfMNPV (Barrett et al, 1995) and as descried previously (van Strien et al, 1996) ; protein kinase gene (pk) in SpliMNPV (Faktor et al, 1996), SeMNPV (E. A. van Strien & J. G. M. Heldens, personal communication), AcMNPV (Ayres et al, 1994) and OpMNPV (Ahrens et al, 1997) ; ribonucleotide reductase gene (RR1) in SeMNPV (E. A. van Strien, personal communication) and SpliMNPV (O. Faktor, unpublished results) ; p26 and p74 genes in SeMNPV (Zuidema et al, 1993), AcMNPV (Ayres et al, 1994), OpMNPV (Leisy et al, 1986) and CfMNPV (Wilson et al, 1995).…”

“…This prevented the use of a known p10 gene as a DNA probe for the direct identification of the corresponding gene in the SpliMNPV genome. Based on the relatively higher sequence conservation between p74 gene species, and the clustering of p26, p10 and p74 in several viruses (Zuidema et al, 1993), we identified part of a SpliMNPV p74 gene homologue with the aim of using it as a reference point for subsequent identification of the p10 gene. To identify the p74 gene, SpliMNPV DNA was digested with various restriction enzymes.…”

“…Multiple alignment of p10 amino acid sequences as deduced from the DNA sequence of AcMNPV (Kuzio et al, 1984), Bombyx mori (Bm) NPV (Yaozhou, 1992), Choristoneura fumiferana (Cf) MNPV (Wilson et al, 1995), Orgyia pseudotsugata (Op) MNPV (Leisy et al, 1986), Perina nuda (Penu) MNPV (GenBank/EMBL accession no. U50411), Spodoptera exigua (Se) MNPV (Zuidema et al, 1993), and SpliMNPV generated by the PILEUP program from the UWGCG computer software package. Dots denote gaps introduced by the computer program to maximize sequence alignment.…”

“…The p10 gene has been identified and studied in detail in AcMNPV O. Faktor and others O. Faktor and others (Kuzio et al, 1984) and Orgyia pseudotsugata (Op) MNPV (Leisy et al, 1986), and identified in Bombyx mori (Bm) NPV (Yaozhou, 1992 ;Hu et al, 1994), Perina nuda (Penu) MNPV (GenBank\EMBL accession no. U50411), Spodoptera exigua (Se) MNPV (Zuidema et al, 1993) and Choristoneura fumiferana (Cf) MNPV (Wilson et al, 1995). Comparative sequence analysis of the different p10 genes shows considerable divergence in the primary protein sequences, whereas higher similarity exists in the secondary protein structure and within specific domains (van Oers et al, 1994 ;Wilson et al, 1995).…”