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J. Virol., May 1997, 3603-3612, Vol 71, No. 5
GA Church and DW Wilson
Production of an infectious herpes simplex virus (HSV) particle requires
sequential progression of maturing virions through a series of complex
assembly events. Capsids must be constructed in the nucleus, packaged with
the viral genome, and transported to the nuclear periphery. They then bud
into the nuclear membrane to acquire an envelope, traffic through the
cytoplasm, and are released from the cell. Most of these phenomena are very
poorly defined, and no suitable model system has previously been available
to facilitate molecular analyses of genomic DNA packaging, capsid
envelopment, and intracellular virion trafficking. We report the
development of such an assay system for HSV type 1 (HSV-1). Using a
reversible temperature- sensitive mutation in capsid assembly, we have
developed conditions in which an accumulated population of immature capsids
can be rapidly, efficiently, and synchronously chased to maturity. By
assaying synchronized scaffold cleavage, DNA packaging, and acquisition of
infectivity, we have demonstrated the kinetics with which these events
occur. Kinetic and morphological features of intranuclear and extranuclear
virion trafficking have similarly been examined by indirect
immunofluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy. This system should
prove a generally useful tool for the molecular dissection of many late
events in HSV-1 biogenesis.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Study of herpes simplex virus maturation during a synchronous wave of assembly
Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, New York 10461, USA.
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