Transcriptional induction of cellular gene expression during lytic infection with herpes simplex virus

Herpes simplex virus Type 2 causes a severe repression of host cell biosynthesis at a number of levels. We show that despite this, non-viral cDNA clones derived from cellular RNA species which accumulate to high levels after infection can be isolated using differential screening techniques. By using nuclear run-off assays, we have shown that this RNA accumulation is mediated by transcriptional induction of the corresponding cellular genes.