| Summary: | All herpesviruses belong to the order Herpesvirales, which consists of the families Herpesviridae, Alloherpesviridae and Malacoherpesviridae. Although herpesviruses share unique morphological characteristics, only the gene encoding the ATPase subunit of terminase is detectably conserved throughout the order. The family Herpesviridae, which comprises mammalian, avian and reptilian herpesviruses, has been studied extensively, but much less knowledge is available for members of the families Alloherpesviridae and Malacoherpesviridae, which respectively comprise amphibian and fish, and invertebrate herpesviruses. Anguillid herpesvirus 1 (AngHV1) frequently causes disease in wild and cultured European eel, a traditionally important fish species in the Netherlands. Hence, in this study AngHV1 was chosen as a model for the family Alloherpesviridae. The aim of the study was to characterize AngHV1 at the molecular level, and to determine its similarities and differences as compared with other herpesviruses. AngHV1 has a genome of close to 250 kbp, including an 11 kbp terminal direct repeat. The genome contains a total of 129 protein-coding genes, five of which are duplicated in the terminal repeat. Since only a dozen genes are detectably conserved among fish and amphibian herpesviruses, the family Alloherpesviridae appears to be more divergent than the family Herpesviridae, among which more than 40 genes are conserved. Taxonomically, AngHV1 is most closely related to the cyprinid herpesviruses. High-resolution transcriptome analysis based on deep sequencing revealed that RNA splicing is much more abundant than had been assumed. A total of 58 functional splice junctions were identified. Eleven genes contain integral, spliced protein-coding exons, and nine contain 5’-untranslated exons or, in instances of alternative splicing, 5’-untranslated or -translated exons. In contrast to mammalian herpesviruses, overall levels of antisense transcription in AngHV1 were low, and no abundant, non-overlapping non-coding RNAs were ...
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