Mutational analysis of the ICP4 binding sites in the 5'' transcribed noncoding domains of the herpes simplex virus 1 UL 49.5 gamma 2 gene.

A previous report (P. Mavromara-Nazos and B. Roizman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:4071-4075, 1989) demonstrated that substitution of sequences of the thymidine kinase (tk) gene, a beta gene, extending from -16 to +51 with sequences extending from -12 to +104 of the gamma 2 UL 49.5 gene in viral recombinant R3820 conferred upon the chimeric gene gamma 2 attributes in the context of the viral genome in a productive infection. The UL49.5 gene sequences extending from -179 to +104 contain four DNA binding sites for the major regulatory protein ICP4. Of these sites, two map between nucleotides +20 and +80 within the sequence which confers gamma 2 regulation upon the chimeric gene. To determine the role of these ICP4 binding sites in conferring the gamma 2 gene attributes, sequences comprising the two ICP4 binding sites were mutagenized and used to reconstruct the R3820 recombinant virus. In addition, a new recombinant virus (R8023) was constructed in which tk sequences extending from -240 to +51 were replaced with wild-type or mutated sequences contained between nucleotides -179 to +104 of the UL 49.5 gene. Vero cells infected with the recombinant viruses in the presence or absence of phosphonoacetate, a specific inhibitor of viral DNA synthesis, were then tested for accumulation of tk RNA by using an RNase protection assay. The results indicate that in the recombinant R3820, a mutation which destroyed one of the two UL49.5 ICP4 DNA binding sites significantly reduced the accumulation of tk RNA at both early and late times after infection. The effect of this mutation was less pronounced in cells infected with the R8023 virus, whose chimeric tk gene contains the two upstream UL49.5 ICP4 binding sites. None of the mutations affected the sensitivity of the chimeric genes to phosphonoacetate. The mutated site appears to be involved in the accumulation of RNA.     

Interaction of cell and virus proteins with DNA sequences encompassing the promoter/regulatory and leader regions of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene

During the course of a productive infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV), gene expression is coordinately regulated in a cascade fashion. Three major kinetic classes of genes, termed alpha, beta, and gamma, are sequentially activated. The mechanism responsible for repression and subsequent activation of beta and gamma genes is not known. A mobility-shift electrophoresis assay was used to examine DNA fragments containing the promoter/regulatory and the mRNA leader regions of the thymidine kinase gene (TK, a model beta gene) for their ability to bind proteins present in nuclear extracts prepared from uninfected and infected cells. Specific complexes unique to each extract were formed. Using a monoclonal antibody specific for ICP4 (the major regulatory protein of HSV) we demonstrated that this protein is present in the complexes formed between probes encompassing either the promoter/regulatory or leader sequence DNAs and proteins in infected-cell extracts. These complexes formed despite the lack of a high affinity binding site for ICP4 in either of these regions. The stability of complexes formed in infected-cell extracts with DNA probes containing the promoter/regulatory, leader region, and a high affinity ICP4-binding site were compared by dissociation analysis. The relative kd(obs) for these DNA-protein complexes was in the order: TK-leader region much greater than TK-promoter/regulatory region greater than or equal to high affinity ICP4-binding site. Cu+/1,10-phenanthroline footprinting revealed that infected-cell complexes which form on a probe containing a high affinity ICP4-binding site generate a protection pattern, whereas those formed on a probe containing the TK-leader sequence do not. In contrast, complexes formed with the latter probe in extracts from uninfected cells are kinetically stable and refractile to cleavage. A model for activation of the TK gene which incorporates these results is presented.     

Activities of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) ICP4 genes specifying nonsense peptides.

Synthetic oligonucleotide linkers containing translational termination codons in all possible reading frames were inserted at various positions in the cloned gene encoding the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) immediate-early regulatory protein, ICP4. It was determined that the amino-terminal 60 percent of the ICP4 gene was sufficient for trans-induction of a thymidine kinase promoter-CAT chimera (pTKCAT) and negative regulation of an ICP4 promoter-CAT chimera (pIE3CAT); however, it was relatively inefficient in complementing an ICP4 deletion mutant. The amino-terminal ninety amino acids do not appear to be required for infectivity as reflected by the replication competence of a mutant virus containing a linker insertion at amino acid 12. The size of the ICP4 molecule expressed from the mutant virus was consistent with translational restart at the next methionine codon corresponding to amino acid 90 of the deduced ICP4 amino acid sequence.