J Bacteriol Virol.  2014 Dec;44(4):326-335. 10.4167/jbv.2014.44.4.326.

Characterization of the Repeat Sequences of Varicella-Zoster Virus

• Won YH
• Kim JI
• Kim YY
• Lee CH

• KMID: 1737321
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4167/jbv.2014.44.4.326

Abstract

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a causative agent for shingles and herpes zoster. The genomes of VZV contain five reiteration (R) sequences and an origin of replication (ORI) sequences composed of tandem repeats whose numbers vary among different strains. Variation of the genome lengths among VZV strains could be attributed by the lengths of R sequences. There was a strong correlation between the lengths of VZV genome and R sequences, while variation of ORI did not contribute the variation of VZV genome length. The high G+C contents of The R sequences in ORF11, 14 and 22 influenced the codon usage of VZV in these ORFs. None of the most frequent 5 codons in R sequences was included in the top 5 most frequent codon in ORF11-14-22 or VZV genome, and vice versa.

Keyword

Varicella-zoster virus; Reiteration sequence; Codon usage

MeSH Terms

Animals
Base Composition
Codon
Ecthyma, Contagious
Genome
Herpes Zoster
Herpesvirus 3, Human*
Open Reading Frames
Replication Origin
Tandem Repeat Sequences
Codon

Figure

• 

  Figure 1. Correlation between the lengths of VZV genome and R sequences. The ranks of genome length among the VZV strains were plotted against the ranks of R sequences. Coefficient of correlation (r2) of the linear regression line was calculated to be 0.9625. Solid line, simple linear regression line; dotted line, 95% confidence interval. y = 0.972x + 1.082

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