Molecular Cloning and Nucleotide Sequence Analysis of the Newly Identified UL53 Gene of Duck Enteritis Virus

Duck enteritis virus (DEV) is an alphaherpesvirinae that causes an acute, contagious, and fatal disease. In this study, the DEV-UL53 gene from Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province was cloned and sequenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a 1032 bp open reading frame (ORF) theoretically encoding a 343-amino acid polypeptide was homologous to UL53 gene of alphaherpesvirinaes but there was just a predicted 226aa peptide, which could be expressed facilely, by using GENSCAN. The DEV-UL53 gene had a base composition of 270 adenine (26.2%), 206cytosine (20.0%), 232 guanine (22.5%) and 324 thymine (31.4%). Compared with the UL53 gene of other alphaherpesvirinaes, the DEV-UL53 gene had a close evolutionary relationship with members of the Mardivirus genus. Therefore, the phylogenetic tree of UL53 might be used as a basis for DEV classification. In conclusion, all data will provide a basis for further functional analysis of the DEV-UL53 gene.