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Journal of Virology, March 1999, p. 2161-2172, Vol. 73, No. 3
Department of Microbiology, University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6076
Received 2 October 1998/Accepted 3 December 1998
Although herpes simplex virus (HSV) replicates in noncycling as
well as cycling cells, including terminally differentiated neurons, it
has recently been shown that viral replication requires the activities
of cellular cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks) (L. M. Schang, J. Phillips, and P. A. Schaffer, J. Virol. 72:5626-5637, 1998).
Since we were unable to isolate HSV mutants resistant to two cdk
inhibitors, Olomoucine and Roscovitine (Rosco), we hypothesized that
cdks may be required for more than one viral function during HSV
replication. In the experiments presented here, we tested this
hypothesis by measuring the efficiency of (i) viral replication; (ii)
expression of selected immediate-early (IE) (ICP0 and ICP4), early (E)
(ICP8 and TK), and late (L) (gC) genes; and (iii) viral DNA synthesis
in infected cultures to which Rosco was added after IE or IE and E
proteins had already been synthesized. Rosco inhibited HSV replication,
transcription of IE and E genes, and viral DNA synthesis when added at
1, 2, or 6 h postinfection or after release from a 6-h
cycloheximide block. Transcription of a representative L gene, gC, was
also inhibited by Rosco under all conditions examined. We conclude from
these studies that cellular cdks are required for transcription of E as
well as IE genes. In contrast, steady-state levels of at least one
cellular housekeeping gene were not affected by Rosco. The requirement
of viral IE and E transcription for cellular cdks may reflect either a
requirement for specific cdk-activated cellular and/or viral
transcription factors or a more global requirement for cdks in the
transcriptional activation of the viral genome.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Transcription of Herpes Simplex Virus
Immediate-Early and Early Genes Is Inhibited by Roscovitine, an
Inhibitor Specific for Cellular Cyclin-Dependent Kinases
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 3610 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6076. Phone: (215) 573-9863. Fax: (215) 573-5344. E-mail: pschfr{at}mail.med.upenn.edu.
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