The genome of Thogoto (THO) virus, an unclassified tick-borne virus, comprises six segments of single-stranded RNA. The complete sequence of the third largest RNA segment has been determined from overlapping cDNA clones and by primer extension studies. Segment 3 RNA consists of 1865 nucleotides (approx. 6·2 × 105Mr). It has a large open reading frame (ORF1 ; 597 amino acids, 68·6K) in its virus-complementary sequence, confirming that the RNA has a negative-sense coding strategy. A transcription termination (polyadenylation) site located after the end of ORF1 has been identified. A second ORF (ORF2; 98 amino acids in length), overlapping ORF1, is also present in the virus-complementary sequence although whether it is translated is not known. The 3′ and 5′sequences of the segment 3 RNA are complementary and similar to those of the tick-borne Dhori (DHO) and the mammalian and avian influenza viruses. Protein database searches have identified regions of homology between the sequence of the THO ORF 1 gene product and regions of the PA protein of influenza virus strain A/NT/60/68 (approx. 20% aligned homology) and the corresponding protein of influenza B/Sing/222/79 virus (approx. 15% aligned homology). Although the THO protein sequence is not as closely related to those of the influenza viruses as they are to each other (40% aligned homology), the indicated sequence data provide further evidence of relationships between the tick-borne THO and DHO viruses and the vertebrate orthomyxoviruses.
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