%0 Journal Article %A Lacoste, Vincent %A Verschoor, Ernst J. %A Nerrienet, Eric %A Gessain, Antoine %T A novel homologue of Human herpesvirus 6 in chimpanzees %D 2005 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 86 %N 8 %P 2135-2140 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.81034-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X 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. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.81034-0