Plasmids containing the simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA replication origin and the large T gene are replicated efficiently in Vero monkey cells but not in rabbit skin cells. Efficient replication of the plasmids was observed in rabbit skin cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2. The HSV-induced replication required the large T antigen and the SV40 replication origin. However, it produced concatemeric molecules resembling replicative intermediates of HSV DNA and was sensitive to phosphonoacetate at concentrations known to inhibit the HSV DNA polymerase. Therefore, it involved the HSV DNA polymerase itself or a viral gene product(s) which was expressed following the replication of HSV DNA. Analyses of test plasmids lacking SV40 or HSV DNA sequences showed that, under some conditions, HSV also induced low-level replication of test plasmids containing no known eucaryotic replication origins. Together, these results show that HSV induces a DNA replicative activity which amplifies foreign DNA. The relevance of these findings to the putative transforming potential of HSV is discussed.
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