Herpes Simplex Virus Genome Isomerization: Origins of Adjacent Long Segments in Concatemeric Viral DNA

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA isomerization was studied by using a viral mutant, 5B8, lacking the unique Spe I site of its parent, SC16. In coinfected cells, SC16 genomic long segments flanked 5B8 genomes in all possible orientations with similar frequencies. Thus, recombination between progeny of different replication templates is sufficient to explain genomic isomerization.