N-LINKED OLIGOSACCHARIDES ON HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUS GLYCOPROTEIN GD ARENOT ESSENTIAL FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF VIRAL LATENCY OR REACTIVATION IN THE MOUSE EYE MODEL

Glycoprotein D (gD) is an essential component of the herpes simplex vi rus (HSV) envelope. It is essential for viral penetration and for cell to cell spread of virus in vitro, and is also important for neuroinva siveness. We investigated the contribution of N-linked oligosaccharide s (N-CHO) on go to viral pathogenesis. We used F-gD(QAA), a mutant vir us derived from strain F of HSV-1. This virus contains three mutations in the gD gene which eliminate all signals for addition of N-CHO. The se mutations affect the antigenic structure of gD and also lead to a s mall plaque phenotype. Otherwise the virus appears normal in in vitro assays. We used the mouse eye model of HSV latency to examine whether the mutations alter the phenotype of the virus in vivo. At 4 days post infection similar amounts of F-gD(QAA) and F-gD(WT), its wild-type par ent, were found in either eyes or trigeminal ganglia (TG) of infected mice. Moreover, both mutant and wild-type viruses exhibited the same a bility to establish, maintain, and be reactivated from latency. We con clude that N-CHO on go are not essential for HSV-1 pathogenesis in thi s model. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.