The Lassa fever virus L gene: nucleotide sequence, comparison, and precipitation of a predicted 250 kDa protein with monospecific antiserum.
Lukashevich I.S., Djavani M., Shapiro K., Sanchez A., Ravkov E., Nichol S.T., Salvato M.S.
The large (L) RNA segment of Lassa fever virus (LAS) encodes a putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp or L protein). Similar to other arenaviruses, the LAS L protein is encoded on the genome-complementary strand and is predicted to be 2218 amino acids in length (253 kDa). It has an unusually large non-coding region adjacent to its translation start site. The LAS L protein contains six motifs of conserved amino acids that have been found among arenavirus L proteins and core RdRp of other segmented negative-stranded (SNS) viruses (Arena-, Bunya- and Orthomyxoviridae). Phylogenetic analyses of the RdRp of 20 SNS viruses reveals that arenavirus L proteins represent a distinct cluster divided into LAS-lymphocytic choriomeningitis and Tacaribe-Pichinde virus lineages. Monospecific serum against a synthetic peptide corresponding to the most conserved central domain precipitates a 250 kDa product from LAS and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-infected cells.
J. Gen. Virol. 78:547-551(1997) [ PubMed | SRS | CiteXplore ]
