JVI Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Coleman, H. M.
Right arrow Articles by Stevenson, P. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Coleman, H. M.
Right arrow Articles by Stevenson, P. G.
Journal of Virology, February 2003, p. 2410-2417, Vol. 77, No. 4
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.4.2410-2417.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Murine Gammaherpesvirus 68 Lacking Thymidine Kinase Shows Severe Attenuation of Lytic Cycle Replication In Vivo but Still Establishes Latency

Heather M. Coleman, Brigitte de Lima, Victoria Morton, and Philip G. Stevenson*

Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Received 18 July 2002/ Accepted 12 November 2002

The lytic cycle functions of gammaherpesviruses have received relatively little attention to date, at least in part due to the lack of a convenient experimental model. The murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) now provides such a model and allows the roles of individual lytic cycle gammaherpesvirus proteins to be evaluated in vivo. We have used MHV-68 to determine the contribution of a gammaherpesvirus thymidine kinase (TK) to viral lytic replication and latency establishment. MHV-68 mutants with a disrupted TK gene grew normally in vitro but showed a severe attenuation of replication in the lungs after intranasal inoculation, with lytic titers at least 1,000-fold lower than those of wild-type and revertant viruses. Nevertheless, the establishment of latency by the TK-deficient mutants, while delayed, was not prevented by their lytic replication deficit. The viral TK clearly plays a crucial role in the capacity of MHV-68 to replicate efficiently in its natural host but does not seem to be essential to establish a persistent infection. The potential of TK-deficient mutants as gammaherpesvirus vaccines is discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Rd., Cambridge CB2 1QP, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-1223-336921. Fax: 44-1223-336926. E-mail: pgs27{at}mole.bio.cam.ac.uk.

Journal of Virology, February 2003, p. 2410-2417, Vol. 77, No. 4
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.4.2410-2417.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Mol. Cell. Biol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2003 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.