Structure and function of the transcriptional control region of nonpassaged BK virus

We compared the nucleotide sequence in the transcriptional control region of BK virus isolates cloned directly from human urine (BK-WW) with that of prototype BK virus. BK-WW was found to have a 63-base-pair insertion and only one of the 68-base-pair enhancer repeat elements. In transient expression assays, BK-WW enhancer showed approximately one-half the activity given by the prototype enhancer.