Cloning of the active thymidine kinase gene of herpes simplex virus type 1 in Escherichia coli K-12.

F. Colbere-Garapin (1) , S. Chousterman (2) , F. Horodniceanu (1) , P. Kourilsky (3) , A. C. Garapin (3)

1 Virologie Médicale et vaccins viraux
2 institut de recherches scientifiques sur le cancer
3 Biologie Moléculaire du Gène

A herpes simplex virus DNA fragment that is produced by digestion with BamHI endonuclease and carries the thymidine kinase (TK; ATP:thymidine 5'-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.21) gene has been cloned in Escherichia coli. A recombinat plasmid, pFG5, has been analyzed extensively and a detailed restriction map is presented. pFG5 DNA efficiently transforms TK- mouse L cells. The TK coding sequence in the cloned fragment has been localized and a smaller recombinant plasmid, pAG0, also carrying an active TK gene, has been constructed to serve as a more convenient vector for transfer, into TK- cells, of genes previously cloned in E. coli.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology

F. Colbere-Garapin, S. Chousterman, F. Horodniceanu, P. Kourilsky, A. C. Garapin. Cloning of the active thymidine kinase gene of herpes simplex virus type 1 in Escherichia coli K-12.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1979, 76 (8), pp.3755-9. ⟨10.1073/pnas.76.8.3755⟩. ⟨pasteur-00174138⟩