Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV, a betaherpes virus) is the cause of serious disease in immunologically compromised individuals, including those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. One of the compounds used in the chemotherapy of HCMV infections is the nucleoside analogue 9-(1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxymethyl)-guanine (ganciclovir). The mechanism of action of this drug is dependent on the formation of the nucleoside triphosphate, which is a strong inhibitor of the viral DNA polymerase. Thymidine kinase, which is encoded by many of the herpesviruses, catalyses the initial phosphorylation of ganciclovir. But there is no evidence for the coding of this enzyme by HCMV, and DNA sequence analysis of the HCMV genome has shown that there is no open reading frame characteristic of a herpesvirus thymidine kinase. Here we present biochemical and immunological evidence that the HCMV UL97 open reading frame codes for a protein capable of phosphorylating ganciclovir. This protein seems to be responsible for the selectivity of ganciclovir and will be useful tool in the understanding and refinement of the antiviral activity of new selective anti-HCMV compounds.

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The major herpes simplex virus type 2 DNA-binding infected cell-specific polypeptides 11 and 12 have been purified to homogeneity from extracts of virus-infected cells. Monospecific antiserum to the purified protein has been made and used to examine virus temperature-sensitive mutants for defects in the synthesis of the protein and to probe virus DNA synthesis in isolated chromatin. The purified protein acted directly on a polydeoxyadenylic acid-polydeoxythymidylic acid helix, reducing its melting temperature. The results indicated that the protein functions in virus DNA synthesis.

We have demonstrated the presence of an Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV)‐coded thymidine kinase (TK) by producing biochemically transformed, TK‐positive mammalian cell lines using either microinjection of whole EBV virions or calcium phosphate‐mediated transfection of the SalI‐B restriction endonuclease fragment of EBV DNA. Analysis of these cell lines showed that: (i) EBV DNA was present in the cell lines, (ii) sequences from the SalI‐B restriction endonuclease fragment of EBV were expressed, (iii) a TK activity was present and (iv) a protein with antigenic cross‐reactivity with the herpes simplex virus (HSV) TK was produced. The identity of the EBV TK gene was determined by demonstrating that a recombinant plasmid, which expressed the protein product of the BXLF1 open reading frame as a fusion protein, could complement TK‐ strains of E. coli. A comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of the TK proteins of EBV and HSV‐1 revealed significant regions of homology.

SUMMARYThe herpes simplex virus type 2 major DNA-binding protein has been functionally characterized using temperature-sensitive mutants in the complementation group 2-2. The mutants were shown to be defective in the DNA-binding protein gene by mapping the mutants to the area of the genome known to code for the protein, and by demonstrating alterations in the major DNA-binding protein induced in mutantinfected cells. The mutants were shown to be defective in the replication of virus DNA. The nature of this defect was examined by studying virus DNA synthesis in vitro and by the examination of virus enzymes. An effect of mutation in the DNA-binding protein was to destabilize both the DNA polymerase and the alkaline exonuclease.