Herpes simplex virus Research
Herpes Simplex Virus General Properties
HSV is a nuclear replicating, icosahedral, enveloped DNA virus. The HSV envelope contains at least 8 glycoproteins. The matrix or tegument which contacts both the envelope and the capsid contains at least 15-20 proteins.
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Work by two groups of collaborators, the first including Jay Brown and Bill Newcomb at the University of Virginia working with Alasdair Steven, Benes Trus, Bernard Heymann at the NIH, and the second including Wah Chiu at Baylor University, Z. Hong Zhou at the University of Texas, Houston, and Frazer Rixon at the MRC Virology Unit in Glasgow have applied high resolution, computer-enhanced electron microscopy of frozen viral capsids and x-ray crystallography to obtain elegant images of the virus.
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Recently, Alex Malkin and Marco Plomp working in Alex McPherson's laboratory at UCI
using material supplied by us have applied the new technique
of atomic force microscopy to obtain
images of very high resolution in real time. These new methods have
promise of providing images of living virus-infected cells.
Thanks to A. Malkin, M. Plomp, A. McPherson
Protein composition of the HSV-1 capsid
The capsid itself is made up of 6 proteins--the major one being the 150,000d MW major capsid protein (UL19). The molar ratio of different viral proteins in the capsid are shown in the following table.
| Protein composition of the HSV-1 Capsid | ||||
| Protein | Gene | MW | Copies per Capsid | Location in Capsid |
| VP5 | UL19 | 149,075 | 960 | Capsomers |
| VP19c | UL38 | 50,260 | 375 | Triplexes |
| VP21 | UL26 | 45,000 | 87 | Inside Capsid |
| VP23 | UL18 | 34,268 | 572 | Triplexes |
| VP24 | UL26.5 | 26,618 | 147 | Inside Capsid |
| VP26 | UL35 | 12,095 | 952 | Capsomer Tips |