Nucleotide sequences of the infectious DNA clones of two mink enteritis virus isolates exhibit the diversity of the terminal palindromic sequences and predicted secondary structures

• The RF-DNA clones of MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 were infectious. • The entire genomes of MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 were 5162 bp and 5113 bp in length, respectively. • The palindromic telomeres of the parvoviruses showed the diversity in length and secondary structures. In this study, the infectious RF-DNA clones of two mink enteritis viruses, MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7, were constructed, which generated progeny virions and seemed to contain an almost or completely full-length genome. The genomes of MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 were 5162 bp and 5113 bp in length, respectively. The genomic organizations of MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 were similar to that of the other carnivore parvoviruses. The 3′-UTR of the virion strand of MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 were 311 bp and 313 bp in length, respectively, containing a 208 bp palindromic sequence assuming Y-shaped configurations. Interestingly, the difference of the 3′ palindromic sequences between MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 resulted in the orientation inversion of the hairpin ears. And the 5′-UTRs of MEV-SD1 and MEV-SD7 were 582 bp and 531 bp, respectively, containing a 198 bp palindromic sequence assuming U-shaped configurations, a triplet mismatch (5′-TAC-3′) in the center of the duplex stem and a triplet mismatch (5′-AGA-3′) forming a small asymmetric bubble. The findings demonstrated that the genomic termini of the carnivore parvoviruses showed the diversity in length, base composition, and predicted secondary structure.