THE LOCATION AND NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE THYMIDINE KINASE GENE OF BOVINE HERPESVIRUS TYPE-1.2

On the basis of their restriction endonuclease digestion patterns, four Australian bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) isolates were classified as belonging to the BHV-1.2a subtypes. The thymidine kinase (TK) genes of all four BHV-1.2a isolates were located on a 3.5 kb SalI restriction fragment. This is in contrast to North American and European BHV-1.1 isolates whose TK genes are contained on a 2.6 to 2.8 kb SalI fragment. The restriction fragments containing the TK genes were cloned into phagemid vectors and their sequences determined using the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method. The BHV-1.2a isolates possessed identical TK gene sequences, which differed from previously published TK sequences for the LA and 6660 BHV-1.1 strains. In addition to five single base alterations, there were six separate base insertions which resulted in two major frameshifts which spanned an area of 72 amino acids or 20% of the expressed TK gene product. The predicted amino acid sequence exhibited a higher degree of similarity to other herpesvirus TKs, suggesting that previously published TK gene sequences may have been incorrect. The present nucleotide sequence and corresponding amino acid composition reinforces previous observations concerning regions of herpesvirus TK amino acid conservation and should assist in future studies into the evolution and functional domains of herpesvirus TKs.