Alkaline nuclease activity in cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-1 temperature-sensitive mutants.

An in situ assay has been adapted to the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) system which can detect alkaline nuclease activity in infected cell lysates following sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Lysates of cells infected with HSV-1 temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants possessing mutations in the genes for an immediate-early transcriptional regulatory protein (ICP4), viral DNA polymerase (pol), and the major HSV-1 DNA binding protein (ICP8) exhibited altered alkaline nuclease profiles relative to that of wild-type virus-infected cells at 39 degrees C. Infections with a control mutant defective in the gene for glycoprotein B yielded wild-type nuclease profiles. The diverse effects on alkaline nuclease expression of mutants with lesions in different viral proteins involved directly in viral DNA synthesis provides evidence for the cooperative interaction between HSV-encoded viral DNA replication components.