A cellular function can enhance gene expression and plating efficiency of a mutant defective in the gene for ICP0, a transactivating protein of herpes simplex virus type 1

Abstract

ICP0 transactivates herpes simplex virus type 1 genes of all classes as well as a number of heterologous viral and cellular genes, yet it is not essential for virus replication in vitro or in vivo. Stocks of ICP0 deletion mutants, however, exhibit significantly lower plating efficiencies on standard 24-h-old Vero cell monolayers than do stocks of wild-type virus. In an attempt to determine whether the growth status of cells in the monolayer affects the ability of ICP0 mutants to initiate plaque formation, the plating efficiencies and abilities of an ICP0 null mutant (7134) and of wild-type virus (KOS) to express selected viral proteins were determined on Vero cell monolayers whose growth had been arrested either by contact inhibition-trypsinization or by isoleucine deprivation and had then been released from growth arrest. The proportion of cells cycling synchronously after release from growth arrest was assessed by flow cytometry. The results of these studies indicate that the plating efficiency of 7134 was greatest on Vero cell monolayers 8 h after release from growth arrest induced by either treatment. Monolayers of both types released from growth arrest at other times supported 7134 plaque formation less efficiently. In contrast, the plating efficiency of KOS was nearly equal on monolayers at all times after release from growth arrest. Notably, both KOS and 7134 were equally efficient in entering cells and inducing expression of the immediate-early protein ICP4 in either 8- or 24-h monolayers. Relative to KOS, however, 7134 was significantly impaired in the expression of selected early and late genes in cells at 24 h postrelease. When the plating efficiencies of 7134 and KOS were examined in 0-28 cells (Vero cells that are stably transformed with the ICP0 gene) whose growth had been arrested and then released, no differences in the plating efficiencies of the two viruses as a function of growth status were noted. These findings suggest that a cellular function expressed maximally in cells 8 h after release from growth arrest can substitute operationally for ICP0 to enhance plaque formation and viral gene expression by 7134. They further suggest that one role of ICP0 in viral infection is to facilitate virus replication in cells that do not express this function.