OBJECTIVETo determine the genes in which exist overlapping ORF in Merlin strains of human cytomegalovirus, and to reveal their structure and functional characteristics.

METHODSWe search for overlapping genes of ORF in HCMV Merlin strains' whole genome by Bioinformatics methods, analyzing coding sequence CDS and starting and ending sites of ORF, calculating the length of CDS and ORF, analyzing the molecular weight of encoding protein, overlapping length and coding direction of protein, identifying overlapping sequences and overlapping types, analyzing the expression phase of overlapping genes and the function of proteins.

RESULTSThere were 39 overlapping ORF genes in HCMV Merlin strains, accounting for 23% of total genes. Among these 39 genes, there are 13 IE genes, 9 E genes and 17 L genes, which can be divided into 16 contigs. There are 11 contigs when two genes overlap, with 3 contigs in three genes overlapping, and 2 contigs in four genes overlapping. The functions of overlapping genes are widely.

CONCLUSIONWe found that there are a lot of complex overlapping genes in HCMV Merlin strains, which are basis for further study of the transcription and translation mechanism of overlapping genes.

Computational Biology ; Contig Mapping ; Cytomegalovirus ; genetics ; Genes, Duplicate ; genetics ; Humans ; Open Reading Frames ; genetics