Mapping of the structural gene of pseudorabies virus glycoprotein A and identification of two non-glycosylated precursor polypeptides.

Cell-free translation of pseudorabies virus RNA isolated during the late phase of the infectious cycle yielded a variety of polypeptides. A monoclonal antibody directed against one of the major viral glycoproteins, gA, immunoprecipitated two polypeptides ranging in molecular weight from 78K to 83K. To localize the structural gene for gA, we used cloned BamHI fragments of the viral DNA to select specific mRNA species and immunoprecipitated their in vitro translation products with the anti-gA monoclonal antibody. This allowed us to map the genomic region encoding the mRNA for the gA within the short unique region of the viral genome on BamHI fragments 7 and 12. Additional polypeptides encoded by this region were characterized by their electrophoretic mobility. In three virus strains tested a similar, but strain-specific, pattern of the two gA precursors was found which was not dependent on the host cell or the state of infection after reaching the late phase.