Organization of the left-hand end of the herpes simplex virus type 2 BglII N fragment.

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence surrounding the region coding for a 38,000-dalton protein of herpes simplex virus type 2 strain 333 that is encoded between map coordinates 0.58 to 0.595 on the viral genome. The sequence data have revealed an open translational reading frame of 1,011 nucleotides encoding a protein of 337 amino acids. Upstream of those sequences, transcriptional regulatory signals could be identified that overlap another open reading frame of 489 nucleotides, which presumably encodes the carboxy-terminal 163 amino acids of a 140,000-dalton protein. Downstream of the gene encoding the 38,000-dalton protein a polyadenylation signal was found as well as one further along on the other strand near a termination codon that presumably punctuates the gene specifying a 61,000-dalton protein. The DNA sequence data were compared with the amended sequence of the herpes simplex virus type 1 strain KOS 40,000-dalton protein (K. G. Draper, R. F. Frink, and E. K. Wagner, J. Virol. 43:1123-1128, 1982) and with the 5' end of the same gene from herpes simplex virus type 1 strain 17 (J. McLaughlan and J. B. Clements, J. Gen. Virol. 64:997-1006, 1983) to assess the degree of inter- and intratypic variation. The comparison of the sequences has provided a basis for the type specifity of this viral protein and for different mechanisms giving rise to the diversity between herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2.