A mutant of herpes simplex virus type 1 exhibits increased stability of immediate-early (alpha) mRNAs.

vhs1 is a herpes simplex virus type 1 mutant defective in the shutoff of both host and alpha polypeptide synthesis. In cycloheximide reversal experiments, alpha mRNAs were significantly more stable in vhs1-infected cells than in cells infected with wild-type virus, whether assayed by in vitro translation or Northern blotting.