Identification of 21 genes of infectious laryngotracheitis virus using random sequencing of genomic DNA.

DNA from infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) was randomly sheared and cloned into the M13 bacteriophage. Clones containing ILTV DNA were sequenced and the predicted amino acid sequences were compared to the known sequences of other herpesviruses using computer analysis. Twenty-one ILTV genes were identified, 20 by comparison to varicella-zoster virus and 19 by comparison to herpes simplex virus type 1; only 12 genes, giving consistently lower homology scores, were found by comparison with the gammaherpesvirus Epstein-Barr virus, indicating that ILTV sequences bear greater similarity to other alpha- than to gammaherpesvirus sequences.