DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/4W6M-XR54
Defense Date
2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Bioinformatics
First Advisor
Michael McVoy
Second Advisor
Allison A Johnson
Third Advisor
Luiz S Ozaki
Abstract
Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a member of the betaherpesvirinae subfamily of the Herpesvirus family. HCMV infection is common among adults worldwide, with an estimated seroprevalence of 66 to 95%, depending on the geographic region (Zuhair et al., 2019). Although most of the virus genomic content has been studied extensively, the terminal repeating region sequences remain understudied. Two main challenges hindered the study of the region: a) limitations of sequencing technologies; and b) misassembly of the repeats due to its complex nature. Here I show a novel bioinformatics pipeline that takes advantage of PacBio's long reads to resolve the challenges mentioned earlier. Implementation of the pipeline yielded results that supported previous assumptions of the terminal region, showed evidence of new findings, and provided in-depth analysis of the terminal repeat known as the a sequence.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
8-12-2022