H. S. Marsden

The effect of sequence variability between different types of hepatitis C virus (HCV) on the antigenicity of the NS-4 protein was investigated by epitope mapping and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with branched oligopeptides. Epitope mapping of the region between amino acid residues 1679 and 1768 in the HCV polyprotein revealed two major antigenic regions (1961 to 1708 and 1710 to 1728) that were recognized by antibody elicited upon natural infection of HCV. The antigenic regions were highly variable between variants of HCV, with only 50 to 60% amino acid sequence similarity between types 1, 2, and 3. Although limited serological cross-reactivity between HCV types was detected between peptides, particularly in the first antigenic region of NS-4, type-specific reactivity formed the principal component of the natural humoral immune response to NS-4. Type-specific antibody to particular HCV types was detected in 89% of the samples from anti-HCV-positive blood donors and correlated almost exactly with genotypic analysis of HCV sequences amplified from the samples by polymerase chain reaction. Whereas almost all blood donors appeared to be infected with a single virus type (97%), a higher proportion of samples (40%) from hemophiliacs infected from transfusion of non-heat-inactivated clotting factor contained antibody to two or even all three HCV types, providing evidence that long-term exposure may lead to multiple infection with different variants of HCV.

Analysis of the polypeptides induced by 29 herpes simplex virus type 1/type 2 intertypic recombinants and correlation of the data with the crossover points in the recombinant DNAs have enabled the map positions of many polypeptides to be deduced. These include 25 polypeptides which label with [35S]methionine, 11 which label with [32P]orthophosphate, and 4 which label with [14C]glucosamine. Together with the data of Preston et al. (J. Virol., in press) on the mapping of five immediate-early polypeptides, the results show that representatives of four groups of proteins--immediate-early, late, phosphorylated, and glycosylated--map in both long and short regions. The functional organization of the herpes simplex virus genome does not therefore restrict any of these four groups to either the long or the short region.

SUMMARY The polypeptides induced in cells infected with a Glasgow isolate of HSV-1 (17 syn +) have been characterized by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Study of the kinetics of synthesis in three cell lines has detected a total of 52 polypeptides, 33 of which can be identified in polypeptide profiles of purified virions. These include six low mol. wt. polypeptides that have not been previously reported. Several polypeptides were labelled with glucosamine in infected BHK cells. The different polypeptide patterns obtained at permissive (31 °C) and non-permissive (38 °C) temperature in cells infected with 16 temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants are reported. The effect of multiplicity of infection (m.o.i.) on the polypeptide profile has been examined for two of the DNA — ve mutants: below ten, the profile varied with the m.o.i. whereas above ten it was constant. All mutants were therefore examined at an m.o.i. of approx. 20. Mutants from the same complementation group showed very similar profiles. A number of general conclusions concerning control of protein synthesis in HSV infected cells can be made: (1) As most of the 16 ts mutants affected the synthesis of several or many polypeptides it follows that a large proportion of the genome specifies controlling functions. (2) The high frequency with which some polypeptides were affected suggests they are at or near the terminus of biosynthetic pathways which are under multiple control. (3) Conversely, some polypeptides were affected with a low frequency suggesting that their synthesis is not dependent on the expression of many virus functions. (4) Several individual ts mutations lead to the synthesis of increased amounts of different large polypeptides. (5) Analysis of every band detectably affected by at least one ts mutation has disclosed nine classes of dependence relationship between polypeptide synthesis and the DNA phenotype of the mutants, illustrating that this relationship is complex and different for different polypeptides. (6) The inhibition of host protein synthesis by the virus may not be a simple single step process.

Recombinants between temperature-sensitive mutants of herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2) were constructed. Using restriction endonucleases, we analyzed the genome composition of 17 intertypic recombinants and detected crossovers in every region of the genome. The virion DNA of one recombinant appeared to be largely "frozen" in two of the four possible genome arrangements of HSV. Knowledge of the genome structures of recombinants enabled us to physically map immediate early polypeptides. We present evidence that the immediate early polypeptide Vmw IE 110 of HSV-1 and its functionally equivalent polypeptide, Vmw IE 118, of HSV-2 may map in the repetitive sequences bounding the long unique region of HSV.