Full Resistance of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1-Infected Primary Human Cells to Alpha Interferon Requires both the Us11 and γ 1 34.5 Gene Products

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The γ134.5 gene product is important for the resistance of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) to interferon. However, since the inhibition of protein synthesis observed in cells infected with a γ134.5 mutant virus results from the combined loss of the γ134.5 gene product and the failure to translate the late Us11 mRNA, we sought to characterize the relative interferon sensitivity of mutants unable to produce either the Us11 or the γ134.5 polypeptide. We now demonstrate that primary human cells infected with a Us11 mutant virus are hypersensitive to alpha interferon, arresting translation upon entry into the late phase of the viral life cycle. Furthermore, immediate-early expression of Us11 by a γ134.5 deletion mutant is sufficient to render translation resistant to alpha interferon. Finally, we establish that the Us11 gene product is required for wild-type levels of replication in alpha interferon-treated cells and, along with the γ134.5 gene, is an HSV-1-encoded interferon resistance determinant.

This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit: