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. 1981 Nov;78(11):7047–7051. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.11.7047

Site-specific inversion sequence of the herpes simplex virus genome: Domain and structural features

Edward S Mocarski 1, Bernard Roizman 1
PMCID: PMC349191  PMID: 6273905

Abstract

The genome of herpes simplex virus-1 consists of two covalently linked components, L and S, that invert relative to each other. The L and S components consist of unique DNA sequences bracketed by inverted repeats. The inverted repeats of the L component are designated ab and b′ a′ and those of the S component are designated a′ c′ and ca. The number of a sequences at the termini and at the L-S component junction varies from one to several copies. Insertion into the middle of the L component of a DNA fragment consisting of 156 base pairs (bp) of the b sequence, an entire a sequence of 501 bp, and 618 bp of the c sequence created a new site through which additional inversions in the genome occurred. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of DNA fragments containing one and two a sequences defined the domain of the a sequence. The single a sequence consists of two 20-bp direct repeats (designated as DR1) bracketing a region that contains 19 tandem direct repeats of a 12-bp sequence (DR2) adjacent to three direct repeats of a 37-bp sequence (DR4), in addition to short stretches of unique sequences. The fragment with two tandem a sequences contained three copies of DR1—i.e., the intervening DR1 was shared by the two a sequences. Furthermore, one a sequence contained 22 copies of DR2 and two copies of DR4 whereas the second a sequence contained 19 copies of DR2 and two copies of DR4. These observations suggest that (i) amplification of the number of terminal and internal a sequences is the consequence of intramolecular or intermolecular recombination through DR1, (ii) the number of copies of DR2 and DR4 within the a sequence is not fixed and may vary as a consequence of unequal crossing over or slippage, and (iii) inversion results from intramolecular recombination between terminal and inverted a sequences.

Keywords: nucleotide sequence, recombination specific sequence, inversion assay, direct and inverted repeats

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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