Complete, Annotated Sequence of the Pseudorabies Virus Genome

We have obtained the complete DNA sequence of pseudorabies virus (PRV), an alphaherpesvirus also known as Aujeszky's disease virus or suid herpesvirus 1, using sequence fragments derived from six different strains (Kaplan, Becker, Rice, Indiana-Funkhauser, NIA-3, and TNL). The assembled PRV genome sequence comprises 143,461 nucleotides. As expected, it matches the predicted gene arrangement, genome size, and restriction enzyme digest patterns. More than 70 open reading frames were identified with homologs in related alphaherpesviruses; none were unique to PRV. RNA polymerase II transcriptional control elements in the PRV genome, including core promoters, splice sites, and polyadenylation sites, were identified with computer prediction programs. The correlation between predicted and experimentally determined transcription start and stop sites was excellent. The transcriptional control architecture is characterized by three key features: core transcription elements shared between genes, yielding divergent transcripts and a large number of coterminal transcripts; bifunctional transcriptional elements, yielding head-to-tail transcripts; and short repetitive sequences that could function as insulators against improperly terminated transcripts. Many of these features are conserved in the alphaherpesvirus subfamily and have important implications for gene array analyses.