Infectivity and Molecular Weight of Varicella-Zoster Virus DNA

Abstract

Short communications235 79"69 _+ 3"60 × IO 6 were calculated. This mol. wt. is lower than the values of 92 × IO 6 reported by Rapp et al. (1977) and I IO × lO 6 reported by lltis et al. (I977). In their studies the mol.wt. was determined by co-sedimentation in a neutral sucrose gradient of tritium-labelled VZV DNA from the Hirt supernatant with T4 DNA. The tool. wt. of the two DNA isolates appeared indentical. However preliminary results from analysis by endonuclease cleavage have indicated differences in base sequences between the DNA of the two virus strains. More isolates should be analysed to permit further conclusions. Gemeentel(ike Geneeskundige en Gezondheidsdienst,

The Junctions between the Repetitive and the Short Unique Sequences of the Herpes Simplex Virus Genome Are Determined by the Polypeptide-coding Regions of Two Spliced Immediate-early mRNAs

“…10a); it is the incorporation of the second stop codon which is lethal. Significantly, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the genome of which is very similar to that of HSV (Dumas et al, 1980(Dumas et al, , 1981Davison & Scott, 1983), has one open reading frame running into TRs, and another reading frame whose termination codon lies precisely at the IRs/Us junction (Davison, 1983). This organization conforms exactly to our hypothesis.…”

The Internal Organization of the Varicella-Zoster Virus Genome

“…Initially, 38 D N A molecules isolated from VZ virions in sucrose gradients were examined by electron microscopy and shown to have a mean length of 46.7/an. The average size of 26 D N A molecules measured by electron microscopy following trypsin treatment of VZVinfected cells was 41 to 42/~m (Dumas et al, 1980). Examination of 55 self-annealed VZV D N A molecules revealed a configuration with a small single-stranded loop at one end followed by a short double-stranded stem and a long single-stranded tail (Fig.…”

Molecular Cloning of the Varicella-Zoster Virus Genome and Derivation of Six Restriction Endonuclease Maps

“…Ecker & Hyman (1982) have cloned EcoRI and HindlII fragments in bacterial plasmids, excepting the genome termini, and derived incomplete restriction maps of VZV DNA for these two endonucleases. In this communication we describe the cloning in a bacterial plasmid of 96~o of the VZV genome, including the termini, and the derivation of five new restriction endonuclease maps.The VZV strain used by Dumas et al (1981) was supplied at passage 8 by Dr J. L. M. C. Geelen, Amsterdam, and virus was grown using a line of human foetal lung cells established by Dr B. Carritt, Glasgow, and purified as described by Dumas et al (1980). DNA for cloning was kindly supplied by Dr Geelen, who had isolated the DNA from cells infected with the same VZV strain at passage 6.…”

“…The VZV strain used by Dumas et al (1981) was supplied at passage 8 by Dr J. L. M. C. Geelen, Amsterdam, and virus was grown using a line of human foetal lung cells established by Dr B. Carritt, Glasgow, and purified as described by Dumas et al (1980). DNA for cloning was kindly supplied by Dr Geelen, who had isolated the DNA from cells infected with the same VZV strain at passage 6.…”