Recombination between a herpes simplex virus type 1 vector deleted for immediate early gene 3 and the infected cell...

We have used a vector derived from a herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) mutant deleted for 3.6 kbp of the essential immediate early gene 3 to transduce the Tn5 neomycin phosphotransferase (neor) gene into rodent and primate cells in culture. The transgene was flanked by genomic sequences from the human hprt gene. We demonstrate in this study that sequences introduced by infection with the replication-defective HSV vector can be stably inserted into the cell genome by recombination. Both the efficiency of stable transduction, measured by the number of neor-positive colonies, and the number and length of the transgene sequences inserted into the cell genome were found to be a function of cell type. The transduction efficiency appeared to be influenced, at least in part, by the cytopathic potential of the replication-defective HSV-1 vector, which was more pronounced in primate than in rodent cells.