JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY, Dec. 1981, p. 936-941 0022-538X/81/120936-06$02.00/0 Vol. 40, No.3 Acyclovir-Resistant Mutants of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Express Altered DNA Polymerase or Reduced Acyclovir Phosphorylating Activities PHILLIP A. FURMAN,'* DONALD M. COEN,2 MARTY H. ST. CLAIR,' AND PRISCILLA A. SCHAFFER2 Wellcome Research Laboratories, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709,' and The Sidney Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 021152 The biochemical properties of four acyclovir-resistant mutants are described. Two of these mutants, PAAr5 and BWr, specified nucleotidyl transferase (DNA polymerase) activities which were less sensitive to inhibition by acyclovir triphosphate than their wild-type counterparts. Another mutant, IUdRr, exhibited reduced ability to phosphorylate acyclovir. The fourth mutant, ACGr4, both induced an altered DNA polymerase and failed to phosphorylate appreciable amounts of acyclovir. BWr, a new acyclovir-resistant mutant derived from the Patton strain of herpes simplex virus type 1, induced a DNA polymerase resistant to inhibition by acyclovir triphosphate, but, unlike the polymerases induced by PAAr5 and ACGr4, still sensitive to phosphonoacetic acid. Resistance of BWr to acyclovir mapped close to the PAAr locus and was separable from mutations in the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene by recombination analysis. The nucleoside analog 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine (acyclovir, acycloguanosine) is a specific and effective inhibitor of herpes simplex virus (HSV) replication (8, 25) and demonstrates little cytotoxicity to uninfected cells (25). There has accumulated a considerable amount of evidence indicating that acyclovir exerts its antiviral effect after conversion to acyclovir triphosphate (acyclo-GTP), which inhibits the viral nucleotidyl transferase (DNA polymerase) more efficiently than does the host cell a DNA polymerase (8, 12). Biochemical evidence indicates that HSV thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) is the enzyme responsible for phosphorylation of acyclovir to its monophosphate (8, 13). Host-cell enzymes are apparently responsible for the phosphorylation of acyclovir monophosphate (acyclo-GMP) (11, 21). Parallel with biochemical studies are the results of genetic experiments which have implicated the HSV-TK and DNA polymerase genes as loci which, when mutated, can confer resistance to acyclovir in the cell culture (4, 5, 7, 27). With regard to the TK gene, several HSV mutants lacking TK activity exhibit resistance to acyclovir (4, 5, 8, 9, 27), and the degree of resistance generally corresponds to the level of TK activity (4, 5). With regard to the DNA polymerase gene, several mutants which are resistant to phosphonoacetic acid (PAA), a recognized marker for the HSV DNA polymerase gene (2, 3, 16, 17, 2224), are also resistant to acyclovir, yet exhibit wild-type levels of TK activity (5, 27). Recombination and complementation analyses of one of these mutants, PAAN5, showed that it defmes a codominant locus (termed ACGr-PAA) distinct from the recessive acgr-tk locus and much more closely linked to the PAA' locus than it is to the acgr-tk locus. Complementation analysis indicated that another mutant, ACGr4, was a presumptive double mutant containing mutations at both loci that lead to a highly resistant phenotype (5). Subsequent intertypic and intratypic marker rescue experiments with other PAA mutants have also demonstrated linkage of acyclovir resistance with the PAAr locus and with temperature-sensitive mutations within the HSV DNA polymerase gene (7; D. M. Coen and P. A. Schaffer, unpublished data; D. Knipe, personal communication). To confirm the implications that the HSV-TK and DNA polymerase genes are loci which, when mutated, can confer resistance to acyclovir in cell culture, we examined four acyclovir-resistant mutants derived from the KOS and Patton strains of HSV type 1 (HSV-1). First, the sensitivity of these mutants to inhibition by acyclovir and PAA was examined (Fig. 1A and B). Both the PAA-resistant mutant PAAr5 and the presumptive double mutant ACGr4 (5) were less sensitive to inhibition by acyclovir than was the 936 Downloaded from http://jvi.asm.org/ on December 29, 2014 by guest Received 4 June 1981/Accepted 8 August 1981 NOTES VOL. 40, 1981 than that for their wild-type counterparts. However, sensitivity of these viruses to PAA was considerably different from that observed for the mutants derived from KOS. Both Patton-derived mutants gave dose-response curves with PAA comparable to that. of the Patton strains. In fact, wild-type Patton consistently gave higher ED50 values with PAA than did the two mutants. Cells infected with mutant viruses were then tested for their ability to phosphorylate acyclovir. Acyclo-GTP levels in cells infected with the mutants ACGr4 and IUdRF were 0.3 and 4.0% of the levels found in cells infected with their wildtype counterparts (Table 1). The levels of acyA. 0 a 20 z 40 0 0- z 60 1: 801 1.0 0.1 10 AM 0 20 1000 100 ACYCLOVIR O p 0 z 0 40 - z 60180 S%I i- 2^t% 1 I 100 .1 0% 100 pM PHOSPHONOACETIC ACID FIG. 1. Plaque inhibition dose-response curves for acyclovir (A) and PAA (B) in Vero cells, determined by using wild-type KOS (0) and Patton (0) and acyclovir-resistant PAAr5 ([1), IUdRrr(), BW' (A), and ACGr4 (A) viruses. Plaque reduction assays to determine ED50 values for acyclovir and PAA were performed as described by Collins and Bauer (6). Virus stocks were prepared as previously described (8). Downloaded from http://jvi.asm.org/ on December 29, 2014 by guest wild-type virus KOS (Fig. 1A). Fifty percent effective dose (ED50) values for PAAr5 and ACGr4 were 20- and 490-fold greater, respectively, than that for KOS. PAAr5 and ACGr4 also showed much less susceptibility to inhibition by PAA, with ED50 values more than 10and 5-fold greater, respectively, than that obtained for KOS (Fig. 1B). Mutants of the Patton strain of HSV-1, IUdRr (a mutant characterized by Smith et al. [28] as being resistant to acyclovir and iododeoxyuridine) and BWT were also found to be much less susceptible to inhibition by acyclovir than was the wild-type virus. The ED50 values for IJdRr and BW' were approximately 100 and 200 times greater, respectively, 937 938 J. VIROL. NOTES mutant, BWr, were less sensitive to inhibition by acyclo-GTP than their respective wild types. h5o values for PAAr5, ACGr4, and BWr were approximately 5-, 9-, and 25-fold higher, respectively, than the Lo values obtained for their wild-type counterparts (Table 1). These data confirm the suggestion of Coen and Schaffer (5) that PAAr5 and ACGr4 contain mutations at the DNA polymerase locus conferring acyclovir resistance. The sensitivities of the DNA polymerases of PAAr5, ACGr4, and BWr to PAA inhibition were also determined (Table 1). The DNA polymerase of PAAr5 and ACGr4 were found to be ap- 8100 60 20 0.01 0.1 1.0 10 rIM ACYCLO-GTP FIG. 2. Inhibition of wild-type and mutant virus DNA polymerases by acyclo-GTP. Virus-induced DNA polymerase was isolated and identified as described previously (11, 29). DNA polymerase assays were carried out as described by Elion et al. (8) and Furman et al. (12). The substrates dATP, dCTP, and dTTP were present at a concentration of 100 pM, and dGTP was present at a concentration of 5 p.M. Symbols for polymerases: KOS (0), Patton (O), PAAr5 (0), ACGr4 (A), B W (U), and IUdR r (A). TABLE 1. Summary of the biochemical properties of acyclovir-resistant mutants and their corresponding wild types' Virus Vrs KOS PAA`5 ACG`4 Acyclo-GTP levels (pmol/ 106 cells) 90.7 55.4 0.3 Polymerase sensitivity (range) (I50 (,4M])^ Viral sensitivity ____ __ ED_____o______M Acyclo-GTP PAA Acyclovir PAA 0.23 (0.11-0.42) 1.17 (0.82-1.62) 2.14 (1.47-3.33) 0.50 (0.21-0.86) 3.57 (2.36-4.71) 3.78 (2.43-5.07) 0.7 14.3 346 >1,400d 138 >750 Patton BWr IUdRr 52.8 0.15 (0.09-0.24) 1.93 (0.43-4.43) 1.4 260 121.8 3.71 (3.36-4.08) 0.97 (0.55-1.50) 224 195 2.3 0.23 (0.04-0.89) 0.50 (0.01-1.93) 136 166 Experimental details may be found in the legends to Fig. 1 and 2. b Concentrations of substrates for the acyclo-GTP inhibition assay are described in the legend to Fig. 2. values were calculated by using the Probit computer program, which places more weight on those points near the I50 point (10). For the PAA inhibition assay, the concentration of all four deoxynucleoside triphosphates was Ih0 100/AM. d The ED0o values were determined by Probit analysis (10). No inhibition at these concentrations. Downloaded from http://jvi.asm.org/ on December 29, 2014 by guest clo-GTP in cells infected with the resistant mutants PAAr5 and BWr were comparable to the leveLs in cells infected with wild-type viruses. Moreover, the total amount of phosphorylated acyclovir (all forms: mono-, di-, and triphosphates) was considerably higher in cells infected with wild-type viruses, BWr, or PAAr5 than in cells infected with ACGr4 and IUdRr (data not shown). Similarly, extracts prepared from cells infected with IUdRr and ACGr4 contained much less acyclovir-phosphorylating activity and HSV-TK activity than did extracts from cells infected with wild-type virus, whereas BW0 and PAAr5 induced acyclovir-phosphorylating and HSV-TK activities comparable to those of their wild-type counterparts (P. Keller, personal communication). Thus, the acyclovir resistance of BWr and PAAr5 cannot be attributed to failure of these mutants to phosphorylate acyclovir. The lack of acyclovir phosphorylation (TK expression) by IUdRr probably explains the cross-resistance to acyclovir and IUdR observed for this virus (28). The inhibitory effect of acyclo-GTP on the DNA polymerase of mutant and wild-type viruses was examined by using [3H]dTTP incorporation as a measure of enzyme activity. Enzyme inhibition curves (Fig. 2) demonstrated that DNA polymerases of the viruses could be separated into two classes, a sensitive class and a resistant class, on the basis of their sensitivities to inhibition by acyclo-GTP. The sensitive class, having I50 (50% inhibition) values of about 0.2 ,uM acyclo-GTP (Table 1), was comprised of both wild-type strains and the TK-deficient mutant derived from Patton (IUdRr). The DNA polymerases induced by the KOS-derived mutants, PAAr5 and ACGr4, and the Patton-derived VOL. 40, 1981 NOTES origin. Genetic experiments previously identified PAAr5 as a mutant whose resistance to acyclovir was separable by recombination from the acyclovir resistance mutations in acgr-tk mutants and closely linked to the PAA resistance locus (5). To determine whether the mutant BWr behaved similarly in recombination tests, we performed crosses between BW' and the acg'-tk mutant, ACGr35, which is partially acyclovir resistant owing to a mutation which reduces TK activity to about 15% of wild-type levels (5). The ability to measure recombination between these two viruses depended upon the fact that neither plated efficiently in 400 1LM acyclovir (Table 2). However, when BW' and ACGr35 were crossed, 3.3% of the resulting progeny were resistant to 400 ,uM acyclovir (Table 2). These data imply a recombination frequency of 6.6%, which is much greater than any found between mutants within the same complementation group which map in the unique sequences of the HSV-1 genome (R. A. F. Dixon and P. A. Schaffer, unpublished data). Similar results (not shown) were obtained when BWT was crossed with the conditionally resistant acgr_tk mutant, KG-ill, which exhibits thermolabile TK activity (4). To determine whether the acyclovir resistance of BWr was linked to the PAA resistance locus, we crossed BWr with PAAr5, and the progeny were examined for their plating efficiency in both PAA at 1.4 mM and acyclovir at 100 tiM. Each parent used in the crosses was relatively resistant to one of these drugs but quite sensitive to the other or to the combination of both drugs at these concentrations (Table 2). A recombinant of these two viruses would be expected to plate efficiently in both drugs. However, only 0.08% of the progeny were resistant to both drugs, implying a recombination frequency of only 0.16% (Table 2). In contrast, in a parallel experiment, when the acgr_tk mutant, ACGr35, TABLE 2. Recombination of B W, ACGr35, and PAAr5a PFU/ml EoPb acyclovir Norus In(400 acyclovir (100 and Nou drIn dru g PAA,uM) (1400 ItM) ACGr35 BWr 1.1 X 2.6 X 2.4 X 3.3 X 3.2 x 7.2 x 107 107 <5.0 X 102 1.6 x 105 1.0 X 103 1.1 x 106 JIM) <5.0 X 102 1.0 X 104 5.0 x 102 In acyclovir (400 jiM) <4.6 X 10-5 6.2 x 10-3 4.0 X 10-5 3.3 x 10-2 In acyclovir (100 and PAAuM) (1,400 AM) <4.6 X 10-5 3.8 x 10-4 RF- RF- P+ Ad (%) 2.0 x 10-5 6.6 BWT x ACGr35 2.5 X 104 0.16 107 8.0 x 10-4 PAAr5 x BWT 106 7.5 x 104 1.0 x 10-2 2.0 PAAr5 x ACGr35 a Recombination analysis was performed essentially as described by Schaffer et al. (26), except that Vero cells were used instead of HEL cells, and recombination was performed at 37°C. Duplicate tube cultures of Vero cells containing approximately 2 x 105 cells per culture were infected either with pairs of mutants, each at a calculated multiplicity of 2.5 plaque-forming units (PFU) per cell in a total volume of 0.2 ml, or with single parental virus controls at a multiplicity of 5 PFU per cell in 0.2 ml. Simultaneous assays of inoculum suspensions were performed to confirm calculated input multiplicities; if the actual multiplicity varied more than twofold from the calculated multiplicity, results of tests with these mutants were excluded. b EOP, Efficiency of plating. EOP = (PFU per milliliter in presence of drug)/(PFU per milliliter in absence of drug). 'RF - A, Recombination frequency. RF - A = [(PFU per milliliter in presence of acyclovir)/(PFU per milliliter in absence of acyclovir)] x 2 x 100%. d RF - P + A, Recombination frequency. RF -P + A = [(PFU per milliliter in presence of PAA and acyclovir)/(PFU per milliliter in absence of PAA and acyclovir)] x 2 x 100%c. PAAr5 107 107 Downloaded from http://jvi.asm.org/ on December 29, 2014 by guest proximately seven times more resistant to inhibition by PAA than was wild-type KOS DNA polymerase. In contrast, BWr DNA polymerase was found to be no more resistant to inhibition by PAA than was the DNA polymerase of its parental virus, strain Patton. The DNA polymerase induced by IUdR' showed not only wildtype sensitivity to acyclo-GTP but also wildtype sensitivity to PAA (Table 1). The apparent Km values for the four natural deoxynucleoside triphosphates ranged from 1 to 4 ,uM (unpublished data). All viral DNA polymerase preparations exhibited a fourfold stimulation of activity in the presence of 50 mM ammonium sulfate, whereas cellular a DNA polymerase activity was reduced by 50%, indicating that the polymerase preparations were virus specific (20, 29). In addition, the DNA polymerases induced by KOS, Patton, IUdRr, and BWr were 50-fold more sensitive than the a cellular DNA polymerase of HeLa S-3 cells to inhibition by PAA at a concentration of 5 ,uM, thus confirming their viral 939 940 NOTES 1980.) We thank C. Lubbers, P. A. Temple, L. B. Sandner, and P. T. Gelep for excellent technical assistance, J. A. Fyfe for valuable discussion, G. B. Elion for critical reading of the manuscript and for continuous support and interest during this work, and K. 0. Smith for so graciously providing us with his mutants. This study was supported in part by Public Health Service research grant CA20260 and program project grant CA21082 from the National Cancer Institute. D.M.C. was the recipient of postdoctoral fellowship AI 05817 from the National Institutes of Health. LITERATURE CITED 1. Aron, G. M., D. J. M. Purifoy, and P. A. Schaffer. 1975. DNA synthesis and DNA polymerase activity of herpes simplex virus type 1 temperature-sensitive mutants. J. Virol. 16:498-507. 2. Chartrand, P., C. S. Crumpacker, P. A. Schaffer, and N. M. Wilkie. 1980. Physical and genetic analysis of herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase locus. Virology 103:311-326. 3. Chartrand, P., N. D. Stow, M. C. Timbury, and N. M. Wilkie. 1979. Physical mapping of paa' mutations of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 by intertypic marker rescue. J. Virol. 31:265-276. 4. Coen, D. M., R. A. F. Dixon, S. W. Ruby, and P. A. Schaffer. 1980. Genetics of acycloguanosine resistance and the thymidine kinase gene in HSV-1, p. 581-590. In B. Fields, R. Jaenisch, and C. F. Fox (ed.), Animal virus genetics, ICN-UCLA Symposium on Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol. 18. Academic Press, Inc., New York. 5. Coen, D. M., and P. A. Schaffer. 1980. Two distinct loci confer resistance to acycloguanosine in herpes simplex virus type 1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:22652269. 6. Collins, P., and D. J. Bauer. 1977. Relative potencies of anti-herpes compounds. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 2:49-59. 7. Crumpacker, C. S., P. Chartrand, J. H. SubakSharpe, and N. M. Wilkie. 1980. Resistance of herpes simplex virus to acycloguanosine-genetic and physical analysis. Virology 105:171-184. 8. Elion, G. B., P. A. Furman, J. A. Fyfe, P. de Miranda, L. Beauchamp, and H. J. Schaeffer. 1977. Selectivity of action of an antiherpetic agent 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74:57165720. 9. Field, H. J., G. Darby, and P. Wildy. 1980. Isolation and characterization of acyclovir-resistant mutants of herpes simplex virus. J. Gen. Virol. 49:115-124. 10. Finney, D. J. 1971. Probit analysis, 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 11. Furman, P. A., P. V. McGuirt, P. M. Keller, J. A. Fyfe, and G. B. Elion. 1980. Inhibition by acyclovir of cell growth and DNA synthesis of cells biochemically transformed with herpes virus genetic information. Virology 102:420-430. 12. Furman, P. A., M. H. St. Clair, J. A. Fyfe, J. L. Rideout, P. M. Keller, and G. B. Elion. 1979. Inhibition of herpes simplex virus-induced DNA polymerase activity and viral DNA replication by 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine and its triphosphate. J. Virol. 32:72-77. 13. Fyfe, J. A., P. M. Keller, P. A. Furman, R. L. Miller, and G. B. Elion. 1978. Thymidine kinase from herpes simplex virus phosphorylates the new antiviral compound, 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine. J. Biol. Chem. 523:8721-8727. 14. Hay, J., H. Moss, A. T. Jamieson, and M. C. Timbury. 1976. Herpes virus proteins: DNA polymerase and pyrimidine deoxynucleoside kinase activities in temperature-sensitive mutants of herpes simplex virus type 2. J. Gen. Virol. 31:65-73. 15. Hay, J., and J. H. Subak-Sharpe. 1976. Mutations of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 that are resistant to phosphonoacetic acid induce altered DNA polymerase activities in infected cells. J. Gen. Virol. 31:145-148. 16. Honess, R. W., and D. H. Watson. 1977. Herpes simplex virus resistance and sensitivity to phosphonoacetic acid. J. Virol. 21:584-600. 17. Jofre, J. T., P. A. Schaffer, and D. S. Parris. 1977. Genetics of resistance to phosphonoacetic acid in strain KOS of herpes simplex virus type 1. J. Virol. 23:833836. 18. Kornberg, A. 1969. Active center of DNA polymerase. Science 163:1410-1418. 19. Mao, J. C. H., E. E. Robishaw, and L. R. Overby. 1975. Inhibition of DNA polymerase activity from herpes Downloaded from http://jvi.asm.org/ on December 29, 2014 by guest and PAA'5 were crossed and the progeny were analyzed under identical conditions, the recombination frequency was more than 12-fold higher (Table 2). Thus, both genetic and biochemical evidence support the notion that PAAF5, ACGr4, and BWT contained mutations in their DNA polymerase genes which conferred resistance to acyclovir. The results of this study indicate that mutations can occur in the DNA polymerase gene that will confer resistance to both acyclovir and PAA or to acyclovir but not PAA. The latter result would be expected if the HSV DNA polymerase conforms to the model proposed by Kornberg (18) for other DNA polymerases; i.e., DNA polymerase has an active center that is composed of multiple sites, each with a different function. Therefore, a mutation which affects the protein at a site other than the pyrophosphate exchange site (the presumptive site of PAA inhibition [19]) will not necessarily affect the pyrophosphate exchange site (resistance to PAA). Nevertheless, the simplest explanation for the data obtained for the mutants PAAr5 and ACGT4 is that a single mutation can affect more than one site. The new mutant described here, BWr, which was acyclovir resistant but PAA sensitive, defines yet another phenotype within the DNA polymerase locus and separates the domain of the DNA polymerase molecule which specifies acyclovir sensitivity from the domain which specifies PAA sensitivity. Thus, mutants associated with the HSV DNA polymerase locus can be temperature resistant, drug resistant, or both (1, 14, 15, 17, 23), the degree of resistance to both PAA and acyclovir varying. A detailed understanding of the molecular basis for the wide range of phenotypes within the HSV DNA polymerase locus awaits further fine-structure mapping and additional biochemical studies of its gene product(s). (This work was presented in part at the 5th Cold Spring Harbor Workshop on Herpes Viruses, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., on 31 August J. VIROL. NOTES VOL. 40, 1981 20. 21. 22. 23. 25. Elion, D. J. Bauer, and P. Collins. 1978. 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine activity against viruses of the herpes group. Nature (London) 272:583-585. 26. Schaffer, P. A., M. J. Tevethia, and M. BenyeshMelnick. 1974. Recombination between temperaturesensitive mutants of herpes simplex virus type 1. Virology 58:219-228. 27. Schnipper, L. E., and C. S. Crumpacker. 1980. Resistance of herpes simplex virus to acycloguanosine: role of viral thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase loci. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:2270-2273. 28. Smith, K. O., W. L. Kennell, R. H. Poirier, and F. T. Lynd. 1980. In vitro and in vivo resistance of herpes simplex virus to 9-(2-hydroxyethyoxy-methyl)guanine (acycloguanosine). Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 17: 144-150. 29. Weissbach, A., S. Hong, J. Aucker, and R. Muller. 1973. Characterization of herpes simplex virus-induced deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase. J. Biol. Chem. 218: 6270-6277. Downloaded from http://jvi.asm.org/ on December 29, 2014 by guest 24. simplex virus-infected WI-38 cells by phosphonoacetic acid. J. Virol. 15:1281-1283. Miller, R. L., and F. Rapp. 1976. Distinguishing cytomegalovirus, mycoplasma, and cellular DNA polymerase. J. Virol. 20:564-569. Miller, W. H., and R. L. Miller. 1980. Phosphorylation of acyclovir (acygloguanosine) monophosphate by GMP kinase. J. Biol. Chem. 255:7204-7207. Parris, D. S., R.A. F. Dixon, and P. A. Schaffer. 1980. Physical mapping of herpes simplex virus type 1 ts mutants by marker rescue: correlation of physical and genetic maps. Virology 100:275-287. Purifoy, D. J. M., R. B. Lewis, and K. L. Powell. 1977. Identification of the herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase gene. Nature (London) 269:621-623. Purifoy, D. J. M., and K. L. Powell. 1977. Herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase as the site of phosphonoacetate sensitivity: temperature-sensitive mutants. J. Virol. 24:470-477. Schaeffer, H. J., L. Beauchamp, P. de Miranda, G. B. 941
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