We used the ''Insignia'' program (http://insignia.cbcb.umd. edu/query.php), a bioinformatics on line tool developed in the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland [13] to choose a specific DNA or RNA ''signature'' (a sequence, with customized length and G/C content) for targeted viruses. Comparative sequence analysis of the complete genomes was performed using mVISTA (http://genome.lbl.gov/vista/ mvista/submit.shtml). Multiple nucleotide sequence alignments (NSAs) were then created to visualize the most conserved genome areas using MEGA4 (http://www.megasoftware.net).