Nucleotide sequence of the p10 polypeptide gene of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus

A portion of the Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus genome lying within the EcoRI-P region of the physical map has been sequenced. Previous studies employing Northern blotting and in vitro translation had shown that this region encoded the gene for a "late" 8-10K polypeptide [D. Z. Rohel, M. A. Cochran, and P. Faulkner, Virology 124, 357-365, (1983); G. E. Smith, J. M. Vlak, and M. D. Summers, J. Virol.45, 215-225, (1983)]. The 1313-base pair region contained an open reading frame for a polypeptide of 93 amino acid residues of MW 10,138. The predicted amino acid composition based on the DNA sequence lacked the amino acids methionine, cysteine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and histidine and was similar in composition to that of an abundant nonstructural polypeptide, p10, purified from infected cell extracts. S1 mapping located the origin of transcription 64 by upstream from the translation start codon. A possible stem and loop structure was detected within the untranslated leader sequence. Examination of the base sequence revealed the presence of TATAAT and CAATAT elements upstream from the transcription start site and potential polyadenylation signals lying downstream from the polypeptide termination codon. Computer analysis revealed other potential open reading frames within and extending from the ends of the sequenced region.