Comparison of genetic variability at multiple loci across the genomes of the major subtypes of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus reveals evidence for recombination and for two distinct types of open reading frame K15 alleles at the right-hand end.

ABSTRACT: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus or human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) DNA is found consistently in nearly all classical, endemic, transplant, and AIDS-associated KS lesions, as well as in several AIDS-associated lymphomas. We have previously sequenced the genes for the highly variable open reading frame K1 (ORF-K1) protein from more than 60 different HHV8 samples and demonstrated that they display up to 30% amino acid variability and cluster into four very distinct evolutionary subgroups (the A, B, C, and D subtypes) that correlate with the major migrationary diasporas of modern humans. Here we have extended this type of analysis to six other loci across the HHV8 genome to further evaluate overall genotype patterns and the potential for chimeric genomes. Comparison of the relatively c

SUBMITTER: Poole LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC112749 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature