HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary tables Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lacoste, V. Articles by Gessain, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lacoste, V. Articles by Gessain, A. Agricola Articles by Lacoste, V. Articles by Gessain, A.

A novel homologue of Human herpesvirus 6 in chimpanzees

Vincent Lacoste^1,

¹ Unité d'Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes, Département EEMI, Bâtiment Lwoff, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris cedex 15, France
² Department of Virology, Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC), Lange Kleiweg 139, 2288 GJ Rijswijk, The Netherlands
³ Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, BP 1274, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Correspondence
Antoine Gessain
agessain{at}pasteur.fr

Among the Betaherpesvirinae, human cytomegalovirus is the only virus to possess simian homologues. Indeed, intriguingly, no close simian homologue of the roseoloviruses Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and Human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7), the other two human members of the Betaherpesvirinae, has been identified to date. Here, the first simian homologue of HHV-6 is described, which was identified in common chimpanzees and designated PanHV6. By using a degenerate consensus PCR method, three different gene fragments were amplified, corresponding to the DNA polymerase (U38), -chemokine receptor (U12) and viral transactivator (U42) genes, with 94–96 % (nucleotide) and 95–97 % (amino acid) sequence identity to the corresponding genes of HHV-6B. Analysis of 77 predominantly wild-caught chimpanzees identified a unique PanHV6 strain in 21 animals, with no viral sequence variation between the different chimpanzee subspecies that were found to be infected. Characterization of this virus represents a great potential to gain a better understanding of the diseases associated with HHV-6.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences reported in this paper are AY359406–AY359408.

Supplementary tables showing the sequences of oligonucleotide primers and GenBank accession numbers are available in JGV Online.

Present address: Laboratoire de Rétrovirologie, Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, 23 avenue Pasteur, BP 6010, 97306 Cayenne cedex, French Guyana.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Lusso, R. W. Crowley, M. S. Malnati, C. Di Serio, M. Ponzoni, A. Biancotto, P. D. Markham, and R. C. Gallo Human herpesvirus 6A accelerates AIDS progression in macaques PNAS, March 20, 2007; 104(12): 5067 - 5072. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]