Abstract Abstract A new gene (UL28) from Duck plaque virus (DPV) DNA gene library constructed in Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province was selected and sequenced. A complete open reading frame (ORF2412) was found by ORF Finder and BLAST. It was amplified by PCR and cloned into pMD18-T vector. The positive plasmid was selected and identified by PCR and incision enzyme. Furthermore, it was confirmed by nucleic acid dot-hybridization to make sure the ORF2412 belonged to DPV DNA, and analyzed by bioinformatics tools of NNPP version 2.2，Translate tool，DNAStar and so on. Furthermore, CHIPS and CUSP methods of EMBOSS package were used to analyze the codon usage. The results showed that the typical characteristic of herpesvirus_UL28 was possessed; it contained one structural domain of PRTP and numbers of feature associated with the phosphorylation sites and N-glycosylation sites. Hydrophobic region was greater than hydrophilic region; it was a kind of protein out of membrane. Phylogenetic demonstrated that it was more closely related to poultry herpesvirus (α-herpesvirus). In addition, DPV UL28 gene was shown strong bias in codon usage.
