Stable induction of a 51K cellular protein in neuronal cells surviving herpes simplex virus type 1 infection.

A series of survivor cell lines derived by infection of B103 rat neuroma cells with active wild-type herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) (M. Levine, A. L. Goldin, and J. C. Glorioso, J. Virol. 35, 203-210 (1980)) has been isolated. The survivor cells produced no infectious virus, yet they continued to react with HSV-1 antiserum for over 100 cell generations following the initial infection. The reactivity of the survivor cells with HSV-1 antiserum is characterized as being due to expression of a 51K protein. The 51K protein reacted with antiserum prepared against HSV-1 virions and was not detectable in the parental B103 cells. A protein of the same molecular weight was seen in productively infected B103 and HEL cells. The protein detected in the survivor cells comigrated with that seen in the infected cells on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, indicating that they represent similar proteins. Despite the presence of the 51K protein reactive with HSV-1 antiserum, the survivor cells contain no detectable HSV-1 DNA sequences. They do contain DNA sequences which cross-hybridize with HSV-1 DNA, but similar cross-hybridizing sequences were also present in the parental B103 cells. No hybridizing polysomal, polyadenylated RNA species were present in the survivor cells that were not present in the parental B103 cells when probed with the cross-hybridizing HSV-1 restriction fragments. Therefore, the 51K protein evidently represents a cellular protein induced by the HSV-1 infection.