The products of gene US11 of herpes simplex virus type 1 are DNA-binding and localize to the nucleoli of infected cells.

We have used antisera raised against synthetic oligopeptides to characterize the protein products from herpes simplex virus type 1 gene US11. These antisera recognized predominantly polypeptides of apparent molecular weight 21,000 and 22,000, but also polypeptides of apparent molecular weight 17,500, 15,000, 14,000 and 11,000. Tryptic peptide fingerprint analysis confirmed that these polypeptides were all closely related. The 21,000 and 22,000 molecular weight polypeptides were shown to be DNA-binding proteins, and immune electron microscopy demonstrated their strong localization within nucleoli of infected cells.