Isolation of human DNAs homologous to the BamHI-Z fragment of herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA.

Human DNA hybridizes with the BamHI-Z fragment (map coordinates 0.936 to 0.949) of Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) DNA. To characterize the BamHI-Z homologue of human DNA, we isolated six independent hybrid phages with a sequence homologous to the BamHI-Z fragment from a human genomic DNA library. Three of the six had a common 1.2-kb BamHI-EcoRI fragment homologous to the BamHI-Z, and this fragment existed as 10-60 copies per human haploid genome. A 0.29-kb MboII segment of the BamHI-Z fragment was found to be responsible for the homology with the 1.2-kb BamHI-EcoRI fragment.