FIG 3.

The majority of variations in EBV ORFs are synonymous amino acid changes to viral genes required for latent infection. (A) Sites of synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide variations present in patient samples organized by gene. The height of the bar represents nucleotide changes per 1,000 base pairs. (B) Both synonymous and nonsynonymous sites are increased in the latent gene subset compared to these sites in the early and late gene groups. (C) Ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous nucleotide changes (dN/dS) suggests some positive selective pressure on genes in the latent subset. The bars represent the mean accumulated variation determined in the 40 sequenced patient samples. Genes were annotated based on B95.8 (NCBI accession number NC_007605.1) and allotted to latent, late, and early groups based on a previously established convention. (Mann-Whitney test; *, P < 0.0001).