@article{mbs:/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.81034-0, author = "Lacoste, Vincent and Verschoor, Ernst J. and Nerrienet, Eric and Gessain, Antoine", title = "A novel homologue of Human herpesvirus 6 in chimpanzees", journal= "Journal of General Virology", year = "2005", volume = "86", number = "8", pages = "2135-2140", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.81034-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.81034-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2099", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "Among the Betaherpesvirinae, human cytomegalovirus is the only virus to possess simian homologues. Indeed, intriguingly, no close simian homologue of the roseoloviruses Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and Human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7), the other two human members of the Betaherpesvirinae, has been identified to date. Here, the first simian homologue of HHV-6 is described, which was identified in common chimpanzees and designated PanHV6. By using a degenerate consensus PCR method, three different gene fragments were amplified, corresponding to the DNA polymerase (U38), β-chemokine receptor (U12) and viral transactivator (U42) genes, with 94–96 % (nucleotide) and 95–97 % (amino acid) sequence identity to the corresponding genes of HHV-6B. Analysis of 77 predominantly wild-caught chimpanzees identified a unique PanHV6 strain in 21 animals, with no viral sequence variation between the different chimpanzee subspecies that were found to be infected. Characterization of this virus represents a great potential to gain a better understanding of the diseases associated with HHV-6.", }