Journal of General Virology, Vol 78, 547-551, Copyright © 1997 by Society for General Microbiology

ARTICLES

The Lassa fever virus L gene: nucleotide sequence, comparison, and precipitation of a predicted 250 kDa protein with monospecific antiserum

IS Lukashevich, M Djavani, K Shapiro, A Sanchez, E Ravkov, ST Nichol and MS Salvato
Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison 53706, USA.

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.

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