Abstract
Canine herpesvirus is a widespread alphaherpesvirus that causes a fatal haemorrhagic disease of neonatal puppies. We have used high-throughput methods to determine the genome sequences of three viral strains (0194, V777 and V1154) isolated in the United Kingdom between 1985 and 2000. The sequences are very closely related to each other. The canine herpesvirus genome is estimated to be 125 kbp in size and consists of a unique long sequence (97.5 kbp) and a unique short sequence (7.7 kbp) that are each flanked by terminal and internal inverted repeats (38 bp and 10.0 kbp, respectively). The overall nucleotide composition is 31.6% G+C, which is the lowest among the completely sequenced alphaherpesviruses. The genome contains 76 open reading frames predicted to encode functional proteins, all of which have counterparts in other alphaherpesviruses. The availability of the sequences will facilitate future research on the diagnosis and treatment of canine herpesvirus-associated disease.
Highlights
Canine herpesvirus (CHV; species Canid herpesvirus 1) was first described in 1965 as the causative agent of a fatal haemorrhagic disease of puppies [1]
We identified a total of 95 sequences for CHV strains deposited in GenBank, ranging in size from 171 to 10,592 bp, and all of these are highly similar to the corresponding CHV/0194, CHV/V777 and CHV/V1154 sequences
The completely sequenced varicelloviruses range in nucleotide composition from 31.6 (CHV) to 74.8% G+C (BoHV5; [46]), a differential phenomenon that extends across the entire genome and has been noted previously as resulting in a high degree of codon bias [43]
Summary
Canine herpesvirus (CHV; species Canid herpesvirus 1) was first described in 1965 as the causative agent of a fatal haemorrhagic disease of puppies [1]. It is classified in the genus Varicellovirus (subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae, family Herpesviridae) [2], along with related viruses such as feline herpesvirus 1 (FHV1), phocine herpesvirus 1, equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1), pseudorabies virus (PRV) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) [3,4,5,6]. Adult dogs infected with CHV do not usually show any signs, infection of susceptible puppies at 1–2 weeks of age can lead to a generalised necrotising, haemorrhagic disease [1]. Periodic reactivation and shedding of virus may occur in association with immunosuppression [16, 17]
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