PURPOSE To localize the sites of HSV1 latency in mice after a primary infection induced by injection into the lip and to assess their connection to the eye. METHODS The SC16 strain of HSV1, or a recombinant virus containing the HSV1 latency-associated transcript (LAT)-promoter driving expression of the LacZ reporter gene, were injected into the left upper lip. Tissues from animals killed at 6...

Infectious virus assays and PCR amplification of DNA and RNA were used to investigate herpes simplex virus DNA replication and gene expression in two murine in vitro models for virus reactivation. We examined latent infections with wild-type (wt), precisely defined latency-associated transcript-negative (LAT-) mutants, and LAT+ rescuants of these mutants of the 17syn+ strain of virus in both mu...

Servando López-Aguayo, Yaroslav V. Kartashov, Victor A. Vysloukh, and Lluis Torner ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, and Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Mediterranean Technology Park, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain Photonics and Mathematical Optics Group, Tecnólogico de Monterrey, Monterrey México 64849 Departamento de Fisica y Matematicas, Universidad de las Americas – Puebla...

PURPOSE To determine the effect of macrophage depletion on herpes simplex virus type (HAV)-1 replication in the eye and on the establishment of latency in trigeminal ganglia (TG) of immunized and ocularly infected mice. METHODS BALB/c mice were immunized with five HSV-1 glycoprotein DNA genes or were sham immunized. The virulent HSV-1 strain KOS was used as a positive vaccine control. Immuniz...

Herpes simplex virus type 1 establishes latency within neurons of the trigeminal ganglion. During latency, viral gene expression is largely restricted to the latency-associated transcripts (LATs), which, whilst not essential for any aspect of latency, function to suppress lytic gene expression and enhance the survival of virus-infected neurons. The latent cell population comprises primary-order...

Previous studies using a eukaryotic expression system indicated that the unusual stability of the latency-associated transcript (LAT) intron was due to its nonconsensus branchpoint sequence (T.-T Wu, Y.-H. Su, T. M. Block, and J. M. Taylor, Virology, 243:140-149, 1998). The present study investigated the role of the branchpoint sequence in the stability of the intron expressed from the herpes s...

During herpes simplex virus (HSV) latency, in neurons of the nervous system, a single family of viral transcripts (the Latency-Associated Transcripts or LATs) are synthesized. Within the LAT promoter region, we have identified a consensus sequence for the EGR proteins in an unusual position immediately downstream of the TATA box. The early growth response (EGR) proteins are rapidly induced in c...

Only one herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) gene is expressed in sensory neurons of latently infected animals and humans, yielding two RNAs, called latency-associated transcripts (LATs). The LATs appear to modulate virus reactivation. In mice and rabbits the 5' origins, kinetics of synthesis, and splicing pattern of the LATs are well established. Because these details of LAT structure and expr...

Genetic diseases of the brain usually have pathologic lesions distributed throughout, thus requiring global correction. Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) vectors may be especially useful for gene delivery in these disorders since they can spread trans-synaptically along neuronal pathways to distal sites from a localized injection. We have previously shown that a nonpathogenic HSV-1 (strain 1716), ...