Size, Composition, and Structure of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid of Herpes Simplex Virus Subtypes 1 and 2

TLDR

Previous studies have examined the size, composition, and structure of HSV‑1 and HSV‑2 DNA. The authors purified viral DNA and sedimented it with T4 DNA in neutral sucrose density gradients, obtaining a 55 S particle corresponding to ~99 MDa. HSV‑1 and HSV‑2 DNA have buoyant densities of 1.726 and 1.728 g/cm³, GC contents of 67 % and 69 %, are indistinguishable in size, but alkali‑denatured DNA yields single‑stranded fragments from 7 × 10⁶ to 48 × 10⁶ Da.

Abstract

Studies of the size, composition, and structure of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the F and G prototypes of herpes simplex virus (HSV) subtypes 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) showed the following. (i) As previously reported by Good-heart et al. HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA have a buoyant density of 1.726 and 1.728 g/cm 3 , corresponding to 67 and 69 guanine ± cytosine moles per cent, respectively. The difference in guanine plus cytosine content of the DNA species was confirmed by the finding of a 1 C difference in T m . (ii) The DNA from purified virus on cocentrifugation with T4 DNA in neutral sucrose density gradients sedimented at 55 S , corresponding to 99 ± 5 million daltons in molecular weight. HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA could not be differentiated with respect to size. (iii) Cosedimentation of alkali-denatured DNA from purified virus with T4 DNA on alkaline sucrose density gradients consistently yielded several bands of single-stranded HSV DNA ranging from fragments 7 × 10 6 daltons to intact strands 48 × 10 6 daltons in molecular weight.