Induction of thymidine kinase activity by viruses with group B DNA genomes: bovine cytomegalovirus (bovine herpesvirus 4).

The bovine herpesvirus type 4 (BHV-4) group has a slow replication cycle, a narrow host range, and cytopathogenic effects characteristic of cytomegaloviruses (CMV), but a Group B genome structure similar to that of lymphotropic Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS). Reference BHV-4 strain DN599 and BHV-4 strains N124 and FHV-2 induced in the cytosol fraction of thymidine kinase-negative (TK-) rabbit skin (RAB-BU) cell mutants a novel TK activity. The BHV-4-induced thymidine kinase (TK) differed from the principal cytosol TK of mock-infected cells in PAGE mobility (Rm) under non-denaturing conditions and in the capacity to efficiently substitute CTP for ATP as a phosphate donor. The BHV-4 thymidine phosphorylating activity could also be distinguished from many common herpesvirus-induced TKs because it lacked iododeoxycytidine phosphorylating activity. Iododeoxyuridine, trifluorothymidine and bromovinyldeoxyuridine inhibited [3H]thymidine (0.01 mM) phosphorylation by the BHV-4 enzyme in a dose-dependent manner, but arabinosylthymine and 2'-fluoro-5-methyl-arabinosyluracil (FMAU) were poor inhibitors of [3H]thymidine phosphorylation, and acyclovir and (dihydroxy-2-propoxymethyl)guanine (DHPG) did not inhibit at all at 60 and 40 times the concentrations of [3H]thymidine, respectively.