title: Trigeminal ganglion infection by thymidine kinase-negative mutants of herpes simplex virus after in vivo complementation.
abstract: Infection of trigeminal ganglion by herpes simplex virus (HSV) thymidine kinase-negative (TK-) mutants was investigated in mixed infection studies in mice. Mice were corneally inoculated with TK- HSV alone or with mixtures of TK- HSV-TK+ HSV. When inoculated alone, an arabinosylthymine-selected HSV type 1 TK- mutant and a HSV type 2 TK- deletion mutant infected mouse ocular tissues but rarely infected ganglion tissues. However, both TK- mutants readily infected ganglion tissues when they were inoculated in mixtures with TK+ HSV. By means of mixed infection studies, it was demonstrated that TK- HSV could readily establish acute and latent ganglion infections. It was thought that the frequent infection of trigeminal ganglion tissue by both TK- mutants after mixed TK(-)-TK+ HSV infection was the result of in vivo complementation. After mixed TK(-)-TK+ HSV infection and subsequent cultivation of ganglion explants in arabinosylthymine, results supported the conclusion that when TK- was present in ganglia it was in the same neurons that contained TK+ HSV.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D007635:Keratitis, Dendritic / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics*; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000382:microbiology*; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000382:microbiology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014776:Virus Cultivation
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D013937:Thymidine Kinase