Restriction endonuclease mapping of the fowlpox virus genome.

The genome of fowlpox virus (Webster's mild vaccine strain) is composed of a single, double-stranded DNA molecule with covalently linked terminal hairpins and approximately 300 kb in length. Sites for cleavage by restriction endonucleases Pstl, Sal/l, Smal, and Notl have been identified with partial maps for EcoRI and BamHI. Differences in Pstl restriction fragment profiles for two separately prepared viruses (FPV-M and FPV-M3), both derived from the vaccine strain, indicate the presence of a nonessential region and potential insertion site for foreign DNA, toward one end of the viral genome. The size of the fowlpox virus genome, which is more than 100 kb larger than the orthopoxvirus vaccinia, indicates that the avipox viruses have the potential to code for more proteins than other groups of poxviruses.