Virus polypeptide synthesis induced by herpes simplex virus in non-permissive rat XC cells

The synthesis of virus polypeptides in rat XC cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1; 13VB4tsC75) was studied. At the permissive temperature the virus induced the synthesis, in a cascade fashion, of significant amounts of several early polypeptides (ICP 6, 8 and 39) and those late polypeptides that are relatively resistant to inhibition by phosphonoacetic acid in HEp2 cells (ICP 5, 11, 25, 29, 43 and 44). The infectious cycle appeared to become arrested in XC cells at about 7 to 9 h postinfection, because the relative concentrations of early and latest polypeptides labelled thereafter remained constant and the levels of several of the late virus polypeptides were severely reduced (ICP 2, 10, 24 and 26) or not synthesized at all (ICP 32, 34 and 37). When XC cells were infected at a very high m.o.i., only a small amount of virus DNA synthesis could be detected; the synthesis of cellular DNA was not impaired and the infected XC cells continued to replicate for several weeks at least. When XC cells were infected at the non-permissive temperature, only the immediate-early (IE) ICP 4 could be detected while IE ICP 0 and 22 were not observed. Infection of XC cells with HSV-1 (MP) also resulted in the production of early and late viral polypeptides. On the other hand, in XC cells infected with HSV-1 (F) and HSV-1 (HFEM), the synthesis of virus polypeptides could not be detected.