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Journal of Virology, January 2000, p. 956-964, Vol. 74, No. 2
Medical Research Council Virology Unit,
Glasgow G11 5JR, Scotland,1 and Division
of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge CB2 1QP, England2
Received 27 August 1999/Accepted 14 October 1999
The role of viral immediate-early (IE) gene expression in herpes
simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency was investigated. The HSV-1
multiple mutant in1312, defective for the expression of the
virion transactivator VP16 and the IE proteins ICP0 and ICP4, was used
as the parent for these studies. The coding sequences of the
Escherichia coli lacZ gene, preceded by the
encephalomyocarditis virus internal ribosome entry site, were inserted
into the region of in1312 that encodes the
latency-associated transcripts (LATs) such that transcription of the
transgene was controlled by the LAT promoter. This insert has
previously been shown to direct long-term latent-phase expression of
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Long-Term Transgene Expression in Mice Infected
with a Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Mutant Severely Impaired for
Immediate-Early Gene Expression
-galactosidase in a wild-type HSV-1 genome (R. H. Lachmann and
S. Efstathiou, J. Virol. 71, 3197-3207, 1997). The resulting
recombinant, in1388, was apathogenic after inoculation into
mice via the footpad and did not detectably replicate in dorsal root
ganglia (DRG) or footpads. Mutant in1388 established
latency in DRG, and
-galactosidase was expressed in increasing
numbers of neurons over the first 25 days of infection. During latency,
more than 1% of neurons in ganglia that innervate the footpad
expressed
-galactosidase, with the number of positive cells
remaining constant for at least 5 months. Rescue of the VP16, ICP0, or
ICP4 mutations of in1388 did not affect the number of
-galactosidase-expressing neurons detected during latency. The
results demonstrate that HSV-1 mutants severely impaired for IE gene
expression are capable of establishing latency and efficiently expressing a foreign gene product under control of the LAT promoter.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Medical Research
Council Virology Unit, Church St., Glasgow G11 5JR, Scotland. Phone: 44 141 330 3921. Fax: 44 141 337 2236. E-mail:
c.preston{at}vir.gla.ac.uk.
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