title: Herpes simplex virus DNA replication.
abstract: The Herpesviridae comprise a large class of animal viruses of considerable public health importance. Of the Herpesviridae, replication of herpes simplex virustype-1 (HSV-1) has been the most extensively studied. The linear 152-kbp HSV-1 genome contains three origins of DNA replication and approximately 75 open-reading frames. Of these frames, seven encode proteins that are required for originspecific DNA replication. These proteins include a processive heterodimeric DNA polymerase, a single-strand DNA-binding protein, a heterotrimeric primosome with 5'-3' DNA helicase and primase activities, and an origin-binding protein with 3'-5' DNA helicase activity. HSV-1 also encodes a set of enzymes involved in nucleotide metabolism that are not required for viral replication in cultured cells. These enzymes include a deoxyuridine triphosphatase, a ribonucleotide reductase, a thymidine kinase, an alkaline endo-exonuclease, and a uracil-DNA glycosylase. Host enzymes, notably DNA polymerase alpha-primase, DNA ligase I, and topoisomerase II, are probably also required. Following circularization of the linear viral genome, DNA replication very likely proceeds in two phases: an initial phase of theta replication, initiated at one or more of the origins, followed by a rolling-circle mode of replication. The latter generates concatemers that are cleaved and packaged into infectious viral particles. The rolling-circle phase of HSV-1 DNA replication has been reconstituted in vitro by a complex containing several of the HSV-1 encoded DNA replication enzymes. Reconstitution of the theta phase has thus far eluded workers in the field and remains a challenge for the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103, USA.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Boehmer
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Lehman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004261:DNA Replication; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D011485:Protein Binding; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins