Varicella Zoster Virus Promoter Sequences
Abstract
The human herpes viruses control the expression of their genes during viral growth in a tightly regulated fashion. and the major factor in this control is believed to be the use of specific promoter elements. To develop an understanding of how varicella zoster virus (VZV) regulates its growth cycle, we have experimentally defined the promoters for three different classes of VZV genes. By characterizing the sequences upstream from the transcriptional start site of each gene, the functional promoter regions have been identified. For gpV (a late gene), a 580 base pair fragment of VZV DNA was cloned upstream from a reporter gene, and subsequent mutational analysis showed that a short sequence containing the "TATA" box (TTTAAATT) is sufficient for promoter activity, although it s much weaker than the equivalent promoter for its homologue, herpes simplex virus gC (TATAAATT) . We suggest that the genomic environment, as well as the nucleotide sequence, is important for this promoter function.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- AD1011342
Entities
People
- Wannee Kantakamalakul
Organizations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences