Tandem repeated sequences within the terminal region of the fowlpox virus genome.

A 6.2 kb BamHI terminal fragment from fowlpox virus has been cloned and the nucleotide sequence was determined. The fragment was cloned by S1 digestion of viral DNA and therefore does not contain the covalently closed terminal loop. The cloned sequences comprise a short (230 bp) unique region at the terminal end, which is adjacent to a 3.87 bp long, AT-rich region consisting of sets of short tandemly repeated units, 32 and 56 bp long. The remainder of the fragment is composed of a 2.18 kb unique region containing three major open reading frames. The amino acid sequence encoded by one of these has some similarity to that of platelet-derived growth factor.