Simian agent 12 is a BK virus-like papovavirus which replicates in monkey cells.

We have begun to characterize the genomic structure and replication of the baboon papovavirus simian agent 12 (SA12). We have defined a wild-type clone of SA12 (SA12 wt100) by plaque purification from a heterogeneous stock. The functional map of SA12 wt100 can be aligned with those of the other primate papovaviruses by assigning one of the two EcoRI sites as 0/1.0 map units. The origin of bidirectional viral DNA replication maps near 0.67 map units, consistent with the limits of sequences homologous to origin sequences in the other papovaviruses. DNA sequence analysis shows that the organization of the SA12 genome is similar to that of the other primate papovaviruses studied. The arrangement and sequence of functional elements in the origin of replication region, as well as the sequences of the N-terminal regions of early protein products, indicate that SA12 is most closely related to the human virus BK, next most closely related to JC virus, and less closely related to simian virus 40. Unlike BK virus, SA12 is capable of productive infection of African green monkey kidney cells.