User:Chrisereae/Murine Cytomegalovirus

Murine Cytomegalovirus(MCMV, Murid Herpesvirus 1, MuHV1) is a virus of Herpesviridae family which infects the common house mouse, Mus musculus. MCMV is a species of the genus Muromegalovirus within the family Betaherpesvirinae

Taxonomy
Murine Cytomegalovirus and Rat Cytomegalovirus are to date the only classified members of the Muromegalovirus within the Betaherpesvirinae.

Model for Cytomegalovirus Infection
Cytomegaloviruses exhibit strict host-species specificiy, and no animal model currently exists for Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV, HHV-5). Because of this, in vivo studies of Cytomegalovirus infection are carried out using either Murine Cytomegalovirus, Rat Cytomegalovirus (Murid Herpesvirus 2) or Guinea Pig Cytomegalovirus; MCMV is the most commonly used model. Though the genomes of MCMV and Human Cytomegalovirus HCMV are colinear, only 78 of MCMV's >170 predicted open reading frames are conserved in HCMV, 40 of which are conserved among all mammalian and avian herpesviruses.