THIS IS A FASE-EPSCOR SEED AWARD THAT WORKS ON BOVINE RESPIRATORY DISEASE (BRD), ONE OF THE MOST PREVALENT DISEASES AFFECTING CATTLE HEALTH AND ASSOCIATED ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES. SEVERAL VIRUSES AND BACTERIA, IN ADDITION TO STRESS, ARE JOINTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRD. BOVINE HERPESVIRUS TYPE 1 (BOHV-1) IS ONE OF THE MAIN PATHOGENS THAT TRIGGER THIS CONDITION BY SUPPRESSING HOST IMMUNITY AND ALLOWING BACTERIA TO COLONIZE THE HEALTHY LUNG. IN 1997 THE BOHV-1 GENOME WAS ELUCIDATED AND PREDICTED TO HAVE ABOUT 70 GENES THAT PRODUCE PROTEINS. HOWEVER, COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS ESTIMATE THE VIRUS TO HAVE ABOUT 40 MORE GENES THAT COULD PRODUCE A VIRAL PROTEIN. USING MASS SPECTROMETRY WE DETECTED VIRAL PROTEIN FRAGMENTS THAT DID NOT CORRESPOND WITH THE KNOWN DESCRIBED PROTEIN CONTENT, WHICH COULD POTENTIALLY CONSTITUTE A NEW GENE. WE LATER SHOWED THAT ONE OF THESE NEW GENES PRODUCED A PROTEIN IN INFECTED CELLS. FURTHER PRELIMINARY WORK SUGGESTS THAT THERE ARE OTHER CANDIDATE REGIONS OF THE GENOME THAT COULD ENCODE A NOVEL GENE. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL CHARACTERIZE POTENTIAL NEW GENES AT THE RNA AND PROTEIN LEVEL AND BEGIN TO EXPLORE THEIR FUNCTION BY CREATING MUTANT VIRUSES UNABLE TO SYNTHESIZE THE NEW PROTEIN. PROJECT FINDINGS WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE NEW INSIGHTS INTO BOHV-1 VIRAL GENOME CONTENT THAT COULD IDENTIFY A POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT VIRAL FACTOR INVOLVED IN PATHOGENESIS. DISCOVERING NEW GENES IN THIS VIRUS CAN ULTIMATELY BENEFIT THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL VACCINE OR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATIONS TO REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF BRD AND TO PROMOTE ANIMAL WELL-BEING AND HEALTH.