David J. Bzik

Nucleotide sequence of a region of the herpes simplex virus type 1 gB glycoprotein gene: mutations affecting rate of virus entry and cell fusion.

The tsB5 isolate of herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) enters host cells more rapidly than does KOS, an independent isolate of HSV-1, and this rate-of-entry determinant is located between prototypic map coordinates 0.350 and 0.360 (1). The nucleotide sequence of strain tsB5 has now been determined between prototypic map coordinates 0.347 and 0.360. Comparison of the tsB5 sequence to the homologous KOS sequence revealed that the rate-of-entry difference between these two HSV-1 strains may be due to the single amino acid difference observed within these sequences (0.350 to 0.360). A cell fusion determinant in tsB5 is located between coordinates 0.345 and 0.355 and to the left of the rate-of-entry determinant (1). Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a second amino acid difference between tsB5 and KOS at coordinate 0.349. The cell fusion determinant was tentatively assigned to this location.

Nucleotide sequences of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) affecting virus entry, cell fusion, and production of glycoprotein gB (VP7)

Abstract The tsB5 strain of Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) contains at least two mutations (Haffey and Spear, J. Virol. 35, 114–125, 1980; Honess et al., J. Virol. 34, 716–742, 1980); one mutation specifies the syncytial phenotype and the other confers temperature sensitivity for virus growth. These functions are known to be located between the prototypic map coordinates 0.30 and 0.42 (Ruyechan et al., J. Virol. 29, 667–697, 1979). In this study it was demonstrated that tsB5 enters human embryonic lung (HEL) cells more rapidly than KOS, another strain of HSV-1. The EcoRI restriction fragment F from the KOS strain (map coordinates 0.315 to 0.421) was mapped with eight restriction endonucleases, and 16 recombinant plasmids were constructed which contained varying portions of the KOS genome. Recombinant viruses were generated by marker-rescue and marker-transfer cotransfection procedures, using intact DNA from one strain and a recombinant plasmid containing DNA from the other strain. The region of the crossover between the two nonisogenic strains was inferred by the identification of restriction sites in the recombinants that were characteristic of the parental strains. The recombinants were subjected to phenotypic analysis. Syncytium formation, rate of virus entry, and the production of gB were all separable by the crossovers that produced the recombinants. The KOS sequences which rescue the syncytial phenotype of tsB5 were localized to 1.5 kb (map coordinates 0.345 to 0.355), and the temperature-sensitive mutation was localized to 1.2 kb (0.360 to 0.368), giving an average separation between the mutations of 2.1 kb on the 150-kb genome. DNA sequences that specify a functional domain for virus entry were localized to the nucleotide sequences between the two mutations. All three functions could be encoded by the virus gene specifying the gB glycoprotein.

The effect of ammonium chloride and tunicamycin on the glycoprotein content and infectivity of herpes simplex virus type 1

Infectious virions of MP, a syncytial strain of herpes simplex virus type 1, are formed in the presence of 50 mM NH4Cl. Underglycosylated virion glycoproteins are synthesized in infected cells and are incorporated into virions in the presence of the same concentration of NH4Cl. We conclude that fully glycosylated glycoproteins are not required for viral infectivity. Virus particles, deficient in glycosylated glycoproteins, are assembled in the presence of tunicamycin but they are not infectious. The decrease in infectivity could be due to the decreased amount of the gB or possibly other peptides and/or to the lack of the high-mannose saccharides of precursor glycoproteins.

Dependence of herpes simplex virus type 1-induced cell fusion on cell type

Abstract Syncytial mutants of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), such as syn 20, cause extensive fusion of human embryonic lung (HEL) cells but only a small amount of fusion of human epidermoid carcinoma No. 2 (HEp-2) cells. In order to determine the cellular basis of this difference in fusion, sparse cultures of syn 20-infected HEL or HEp-2 cells, previously labeled with [ 3 H]thymidine, were surrounded with uninfected, unlabeled HEL or HEp-2 cells. The fusion of radioactive with nonradioactive cells was determined at different times after infection using radioautography. syn 20-infected HEL cells fused extensively with surrounding uninfected HEL or HEp-2 cells, while syn 20-infected HEp-2 cells fused poorly with surrounding uninfected HEL or cells. Therefore, the major difference in the fusion capacity of HEL and HEp-2 cells was not due to a difference in cell-surface receptors for a fusion factor in the two cell types. The process of infection of HEp-2 cells did not cause the plasma membranes of the cells to become refractory to fusion, because syn 20-infected HEL cells fused equally well with either uninfected or infected HEp-2 cells. The capacity for a mutant virus to express the syncytial phenotype in mixed infection with a wild-type virus is also dependent on cell type. In a mixed infection with equal numbers of MP and its nonsyncytial parent, mP, extensive fusion was observed for infected HEL cells and significantly less fusion was observed for infected African green monkey kidney (CV-1), baby hamster kidney (BHK-21), and HEp-2 cells.

Effect of the ionophore monensin on herpes simplex virus Type 1-induced cell fusion, glycoprotein synthesis, and virion infectivity

The ionophore monensin inhibited the formation of mature, fully glycosylated glycoproteins gB, gC, and gD during herpes simplex virus type 1 infection of human embryonic lung cells. Underglycosylated forms, including the apparent high-mannose precursor forms of the major glycoproteins, appeared. Monensin inhibited virus-induced cell fusion. Infectious virions produced in the presence of monensin appeared to contain predominantly underglycosylated glycoproteins.

Expression in bacteria of gB-glycoprotein-coding sequences of Herpes simplex virus type 2

A plasmid with an insert that encodes the glycoprotein B(gB) gene of Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) has been isolated. DNA sequences coding for a portion of the HSV-2 gB peptide were cloned into a bacterial lacZ alpha expression vector and used to transform Escherichia coli. Upon induction of lacZpo-promoted transcription, some of the bacteria became filamentous and produced inclusion bodies containing a large amount of a 65-kDal peptide that was shown to be precipitated by broad-spectrum antibodies to HSV-2 and HSV-1. The HSV-2 insert of one of these clones specifies amino acid residues corresponding to 135 through 629 of the gB of HSV-1 [Bzik et al., Virology 133 (1984) 301-314].

Genome locations of temperature-sensitive mutants in glycoprotein gB of herpes simplex virus type 1.

A plasmid containing a herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) insert from strain KOS, prototypic coordinates 0.345 to 0.368 (3.45 kilobases) was mutagenized in vitro, and potential mutations were introduced into intact viral DNA by cotransfection. Functions normally associated with the glycoprotein gB are in the 1-9 complementation group, and the above coordinates include those that specify the gB glycoprotein gene. Following cotransfection, individual plaques were screened for temperature sensitivity (ts) of viral growth. A total of seven ts mutants was obtained, of which four were spurious mutations due to alterations outside the cloned sequences, presumably mediated by some aspect of the Ca-precipitation-cotransfection method. The remaining three did not complement known mutants of the 1-9 complementation group. These three mutants, along with tsJ12 (P.A. Schaffer, G.M. Aron, N. Biswal, and M. Benyesh-Melnick, 1973, Virology 52, 57-71) and tsJ33 (C.-T. Chu, D.S. Parris, R.A.F. Dixon, F.E. Farber, and P.A. Schaffer, 1979, Virology 98, 168-181), were physically located by marker-rescue experiments to three different restriction fragments between 0.345 to 0.368 map units. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the glycoproteins synthesized during continuous or pulse-chase labeling protocols. All five mutants were found to synthesize a precursor of gB but did not accumulate mature gB during a pulse, a chase, or continuous labeling at the nonpermissive temperature.