Download Location and Characterization of the Bovine Herpesvirus Type 2

J. gen. Virol. (1989), 70, 3067-3071. Printed in Great Britain
3067
Key words: BHV-2/thymidine kinase/nucleotide sequence
Location and Characterization of the Bovine Herpesvirus Type 2 Thymidine
Kinase Gene
By M I C H A E L S H E P P A R D ~* AND J O H N T. M A Y 2
~CSIRO, Division of Animal Health, Animal Health Research Laboratory, Private Bag No. 1,
P.O. Parkville, Victoria 3052 and 2Department of Microbiology, La Trobe University,
Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
(Accepted 4 August 1989)
SUMMARY
The precise genomic location and the nucleotide sequence of the bovine herpesvirus
type 2 (bovine herpes mammillitis virus) thymidine kinase (TK) gene have been
determined. The genomic location of the TK gene was found to be in a similar position
to that of herpes simplex virus. The coding region consists of 918 bases, which is
slightly smaller in length than other reported herpesvirus TK genes. However with an
Mr of 38108 the individual protein is similar in size to other herpesvirus TK enzymes.
Despite there being only limited overall sequence homology with the T K genes of other
herpesviruses, there are several regions of extensive homology at the amino acid level.
Bovine herpesvirus type 2 (BHV-2) is one of several herpesviruses known to infect cattle.
Although BHV-2 is known to cause swelling, inflammation and ulceration of the teats and udder
in domestic cattle (Ludwig, 1983; Martin et al., 1964, 1966) it is not a major problem in cattle.
BHV-2 can be considered as a potential bovine-specific vector virus as some strains produce no
disease and none are transmitted to people or other animals in field situations (Maragos et al.,
1986; Maragos & May, 1987). If the virus has a thymidine kinase (TK) gene it can be used for
D N A manipulative purposes to produce vaccines with less pathogenicity (Kit, 1985). BHV-2
virus is an alphaherpesvirus with a linear dsDNA genome approximately 135 kb in size and a
genomic structure similar to that of herpes simplex virus (HSV; Buchman & Roizman 1978b;
Roizman et al., 1982). The overall base sequence homology between HSV-1 and BHV-2, as
defined by D N A hybridization studies, is 14~ (Roizman et al., 1982; Sterz et al., 1973/74). In
this report we describe experiments which have determined the precise location of the T K gene
on the physical map of BHV-2 strain BHM-1 (Maragos et al., 1986; Maragos & May, 1987) and
the complete nucleotide sequence of this gene. We have also compared this sequence to those of
known TK genes from other herpesviruses.
Recently it has been demonstrated that several BHV-2 genes map to a collinear position with
equivalent genes in HSV-1 (Maragos & May, 1987; Hammerschmidt et al., 1988a, b). This
knowledge was used to determine the approximate location of a BHV-2 TK gene. Based on the
known location of the HSV- 1 TK gene at map units (m.u.) 30-0 to 31.3 (McGeoch et al., 1988;
Reyes et al., 1982) the equivalent region in the BHV-2 genome was determined and found to be
contained within the 11-5 kb HindlII I fragment of m.u. 27.1 to 35.8 (Buchman & Roizman,
1978 a). Previously we have reported that the HindlII I ti'agment and a smaller 2.69 kb SalI
internal fragment transformed T K - cells to a T K ÷ phenotype (May et al,, 1989). In this case we
have mapped this 2.69 kb SalI fragment extensively, and by the use of the calcium phosphate
transfection method (Kit et al., 1980) we have determined the precise map position of the BHV-2
TK gene to a 1.2 kb SalI/SphI fragment (Fig. 1). The SalI/SphI fragment was found to transform
T K - cells to a T K ÷ phenotype with an efficiency equal to the HSV-1 1.9 kb PvulI fragment
containing the TK gene; the larger fragments were much less efficient. When the SalI/SphI
fragment was cleaved with XbaI (Fig. 1) before transfection no T K + ceils were obtained.This
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fragment I is expanded and the various subfragments are indicated as TK ÷ or TK-. Restriction sites:
H, HindlII; B, BamHI: S, Sail; N, NaeI; X, XbaI; Sp, SphI; Nc, NcoI.
suggests that the XbaI cleavage site is within the coding sequence or the promoter region of the
BHV-2 TK gene.
The positive results in transforming TK- cells to TK + with the 1-2 kb SalI/SphI fragment led
to the complete sequencing of both D N A strands of this region, using the chain termination
method of Sanger et al. (1977). The results of this sequence analysis are presented in Fig. 2. With
a coding sequence of 918 bp the BHV-2 TK gene is quite clearly smaller than that of other
herpesvirus TK genes reported (Kit et al., 1983; Otsuka & Kit, 1984; Sawyer et al., 1988; Swain
& Galloway, 1983; Wagner et al., 1981). Although the translation initiation sequence is not ideal
as defined by Kozak (1987) there is an A at position - 3 which results in 60 to 90~o of the
translation efficiency obtained by a perfect Kozak sequence (Kozak, 1987).
Apart from the disease caused by BHV-2 this virus is also of interest as it is one of the few nonhuman herpesviruses whose D N A bears nucleotide sequence homology with the HSV-1 genome
(Sterz et al., 1973/74). A direct comparison made between the BHV-2 TK gene nucleotide
sequence and that of the HSV-1 TK gene showed a relatively high level of homology (57"4~o;
data not shown). A comparison of the TK genes at the amino acid level between these viruses
reveals a striking level of homology within two distinct regions. These two conserved regions
have been identified previously in other herpesvirus TK genes (Kit, 1985). The amino acid
sequences of these two conserved regions in the BHV-2 TK gene as well as the corresponding
sequences for other known herpesviruses TK genes are presented in Fig. 3. These two regions in
the BHV-2 TK gene share the same relative spacing and orientation as that found in other
herpesvirus TK genes. Previously, Kit (1985) suggested that these conserved regions are
nucleotide (Fig. 3a) and nucleoside (Fig. 3b) binding sites; this suggestion has been further
supported by work by Darby et al. (1986) and Liu & Summers (1988). It is of interest to note that
these two conserved regions in the BHV-2 TK gene are more closely related to three of the four
human herpesviruses, HSV-1, -2 and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) than it is to BHV-1 (Fig. 3).
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Fig. 2. DNA nucleotidesequenceoftheentireBHV-2TK geneanditstranslatedproduct. Thepoly(A)
sequenceisunderlined andthe putative CAAT and TATA sequences areenclosed.
The latter exhibits a relatively low level of homology to BHV-2 within these two areas of the T K
gene. Recently, the entire sequence of the BHV-1 T K gene has been published (Mittal & Field,
1989). On comparing the BHV-1 and BHV-2 T K coding regions using the L K B D N A S I S 2020
program, 5 0 . 0 ~ homology was obtained, lower than the sequence homology found between
HSV-1 and BHV-2 T K genes.
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(a)
BHV-2(4-21)
HSV-I(49-66)
HSV-2(49-66)
VZV ( 1 2 - 2 9 )
PRV (3-20)
Marm. (10-27)
BHV-1(IO-27)
EBV (284-301)
BHV-2(II5-131)
HSV-I(162-178)
HSV-2(162-178)
VZV (129-146)
Marm.(130-146)
PRV (108-124)
BHV-I(132-148)
EBV (392-408)
LLRVYVDGPHGLGKTTAA
LLRVYIDGPHGMGKTTTT
LLRVYIDGPHGVGKTTTS
VLRIYLDGAYGIGKTTAA
ILRIYLDGAYGTGKSTTA
ILRVYLDGPHGVGKSTTA
VVRIYLDGAHGLGKTTTG
ACSLFLEGAPGVGKTTML
DRHPTASLLCYPLARYL
DRHPIAALLCYPAARYL
DRHPIASLLCYPAARYL
DRHPIASTICFPLSRYL
DRHAVASMVCYPLARFM
DRHPVAATVCFPLARFI
DRHPVAACLCYPFARYC
DRHLLSASVVFPLMLLR
Fig. 3. Comparison of the conserved regions
within herpesvirus TK genes (a) suggested nucleotide binding site; (b) suggested nucleoside
binding site (Kit, 1985). Marmoset herpesvirus,
Mama; pseudorabies virus, PRV; Epstein-Barr
virus, EBV; numbers represent position of nucleotides in the genome. Herpesvirus sequence
taken from Kit et al., 1983; Kit, 1985; Mittal &
Field, 1989; Otsuka & Kit, 1984; Sawyer et al.,
1988; Swain & Galloway, 1983; Wagner et al.,
1981.
I n c o n c l u s i o n , w e h a v e l o c a t e d t h e p r e c i s e p o s i t i o n o f a B H V - 2 T K g e n e to 30-0 to 31.0 m . u . ,
b a s e d o n t h e r e s t r i c t i o n m a p s o f B u c h m a n & R o i z m a n (I 978 a) o f t h e B H V - 2 g e n o m e . W e h a v e
also d e t e r m i n e d t h e e n t i r e s e q u e n c e o f t h i s g e n e a n d h a v e l o c a t e d a r e a s o f c o n s e r v e d s e q u e n c e
w i t h i n t h i s gene. T h e l o c a t i o n a n d c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n o f t h i s T K g e n e r e p r e s e n t s a f u r t h e r step
t o w a r d s t h e full c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n o f t h e B H V - 2 g e n o m e a n d f a c i l i t a t e s t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f B H V 2 as a p o t e n t i a l b o v i n e v e c t o r virus.
This research was supported in part by the Australian Research Committee
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