REPAIR REPLICATION OF VIRAL AND CELLULAR DNA IN HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE 2-INFECTED HUMAN-EMBRYONIC AND XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM-CELLS

When human embryonic fibroblasts were infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) at a multiplicity of 5 PFU[plaque-forming units]/cell, repair replication of cellular DNA was detectable by 3-5 h postinfection (p.i.). Between 12-14 h p.i., predominantly repair replication of cellular DNA was noted but some repair and semiconservative replication of viral DNA occurred. Almost all DNA synthesis between 22-24 h p.i. was derived from repair synthesis of cellular and viral DNA. Alkaline sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis revealed that cellular DNA of HSV-2-infected cells suffered extensive strand breaks by 14 h p.i. Significant repair replication of cellular DNA was induced by HSV-2 even in the presence of 100 .mu.g/ml of phosphonoacetic acid which inhibits viral DNA synthesis to undetectable levels. Repair of replication of cellular and viral DNA was also detected in infected xeroderma pigmentosum (XP12BE) cells. HSV-2 apparently induced reparable damage in cellular DNA without viral DNA replication. Native HSV-2 DNA which accumulated in the infected cells apparently had a reparable structure (probably strand breaks) that did not require incision for repair.