Abstract
Here, we show that the African swine fever virus 5-HL gene is a highly conserved viral gene and contains all known protein domains associated with Bcl-2 activity, including those involved with dimerization, mediating cell death, and protein-binding functions, and that its protein product, p21, suppresses apoptotic cell death in the mammalian lymphoid cell line FL5.12. Thus, 5-HL is a true functional viral member of the Bcl-2 gene family.