[Isolation and characteristics of a mutant herpes simplex virus type 1 resistant to phosphonoacetic acid].

By successive passages and triple cloning of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in Vero cell culture in the presence of increasing concentrations of phosphonoacetic acid (PAA) a mutant of HSV-1 resistant to PAA (PAAr) was derived and characterized. The resistance to the inhibitor was transmitted from PAAr-mutant to a sensitive strain (L2) by recombination performed by the marker rescue method using DNA fragmented by Hpa-1 restrictase. The resulting recombinant (R-551) was resistant to the inhibitor and had an altered primary structure of DNA.