CC Chemokine of Molluscum Contagiosum Virus Grant McFadden1,* and Richard Moyer2 1 The John P. Robarts Research Institute and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Western Ontario, 1400 Western Road, London, Ontario, N6G 2V4, Canada 2 Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, PO Box 100266, Gainesville, FL 32610-0266, USA * corresponding author tel: (519)663-3184, fax: (519)663-3847, e-mail:
[email protected] DOI: 10.1006/rwcy.2000.03018. SUMMARY Virus-encoded members of the chemokine superfamily of ligands have been discovered in the genomes of certain poxviruses and herpesviruses. The MC148R gene of molluscum contagiosum virus, a human-specific poxvirus that induces benign skin lesions which can become clinically serious in immunocompromised patients, encodes for a member of the CC chemokine superfamily that can antagonize the activities of several human CC chemokines tested. The MC148R protein lacks certain amino acid motifs at the N-terminus that are believed to be required for si