Abstract
SMALLPOX eradication culminated the most successful antimicrobial campaign in medical history1. To characterize further the linear double-stranded DNA genome of the aetiological agent of smallpox, we have determined the entire nucleotide sequence of the highly virulent variola major virus, strain Bangladesh-1975 (VAR-BSH; 186,102 base pairs, 33.7% G + C; Genbank accession number, L22579). Here we highlight features of the molecule and focus on a few of the 187 putative proteins that probably contribute to pathogenicity and virus host-range properties. One hundred and fifty proteins were markedly similar to those of vaccinia virus (smallpox vaccine), for which a complete sequence has been reported2,3 for strain Copenhagen (VAC-CPN; 191,636 base pairs, 33.3% G + C). The remaining 37 proteins reflected variola-specific sequences or open reading frame divergences for variant proteins, which are often truncated or elongated compared with their vaccinia counterparts.
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Massung, R., Esposito, J., Liu, Li. et al. Potential virulence determinants in terminal regions of variola smallpox virus genome. Nature 366, 748–751 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/366748a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/366748a0
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