Analysis of EpapGV gp37 gene reveals a close relationship between granulovirus and entomopoxvirus

RICARDO SALVADOR *; MARÍA LETICIA FERRELLI *; MARCELO F. BERRETTA; WATARU MITSUHASHI; MARINA E. BIEDMA; VÍCTOR ROMANOWSKI ; ALICIA SCIOCCO-CAP

VIRUS GENES

SPRINGER

Año: 2012 vol. 45 p. 610 - 613

0920-8569

*Ricardo Salvador and M. Leticia Ferrelli contributed equally to this study. The Epinotia aporema Granulovirus GP37 protein gene has been identified, located and sequenced. This gene was similar to other baculovirus gp37, to entomopoxvirus fusolin gene and to the chitin binding protein gene of bacteria. Sequence analysis indicated that the open reading frame is 669 bp long (the smallest gp37 sequenced at present) and encodes a predicted 222 amino acid protein. This protein is glycosylated and specifically recognized by an entomopoxvirus fusolin antiserum. The pairwise comparison of EpapGV gp37 gene product with all the baculovirus sequences in GenBank yields high similarity values, ranging from 45 to 63 % being Cydia pomonella Granulovirus gp37 the most closely related. The phylogenetic analysis interestingly grouped the granuloviruses in a cluster more closely related to entomopoxviruses than to nucleopolyhedroviruses suggesting a possible horizontal transfer event between granulovirus group and entomopoxvirus group.