The DNA from several clinical isolates of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) were compared with the DNA from the vaccine strain VZV using three restriction endonucleases: BamHI, BgII, and HpaI. When electrophoresed through an agarose gel, the vaccine DNA digestion pattern was significantly different from the digestion patterns of the wild-type DNAs. Variations in the digestion pattern of the separate clinical isolates were also observed.

No abstract

No abstract

Varicella-zoster virus DNA was digested with 11 restriction endonucleases, and the resulting fragments were separated on agarose gels. Terminal fragments were identified by lambda exonuclease digestion. Physical maps were then constructed using a combination of double restriction enzyme digestion and hybridization to cloned BamHI fragments to place the remaining fragments in order. The genome of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) consists of two covalently linked, unique sequences, a long unique sequence (UL) and a short unique sequence (Us). The terminus of Us is repeated internally in an inverted form and separates UL and Us. The short DNA segment inverts with respect to the long, resulting in two isomeric forms of the VZV genome (5, 9-11, 19, 21). The molecular weight of VZV DNA has been estimated to be 80 x 106 to 86 x 106 (8-10, 19, 21). In this paper, we present the physical maps of VZV DNA (EF strain) derived with 11 restriction endonucleases:

Varicella-zoster virus infection of human fibroblasts and human brain cells produces characteristic cytopathogenic effects and virus-specific antigens. Receptors for the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G, which have been noted on cells infected with other human herpesviruses, could not be detected either by hemadsorption of sensitized sheep erythrocytes or by binding of radiolabeled IgG. Herpes simplex virus-infected cells were positive under the same conditions. 228