THE 24K-PROTEIN OF BORNA DISEASE VIRUS

Based on partial amino acid sequences obtained from tryptic peptides of the purified 24K antigen of Borna disease virus (BDV), we identified and sequenced four independent cDNA clones established from BDV-infected MDCK cells. Each of the clones encodes a polypeptide of 201 residues (M(r) 22461) that differs considerably from an amino acid sequence published recently. In vitro transcription/translation of both the wild-type and a 5' truncated clone lacking the first ATG codon yielded a peptide that comigrates on electrophoresis with a polypeptide immunoprecipitated from BDV-infected cells. The deduced amino acid sequence contains a putative signal for nuclear targeting.