Herpes simplex virus cloned DNA fragments induce coumermycin A1 resistance in Escherichia coli.

We have taken a new approach to identify and fine map previously undescribed herpes simplex virus (HSV) functions. In experiments described in this report the antibiotic coumermycin A1 was used to select two HSV type 1 BamHI fragments cloned in pBR322 that confer partial resistance to drug-susceptible Escherichia coli. The genes encoding these HSV functions have been designated cour-1 and cour-2 and have been fine mapped to the HSV sequences. HSV-cour1 is located at the left end of BamHI-F near HSV type 1 genomic map coordinate 0.645. cour-2 maps to BamHI-M', which is a 159-base-pair internal component of the alpha ICP4-coding sequence located in the reiterated sequences of the S component. In pBR322 both inserts apparently rely on the tet promoter for expression. Additionally, cour-2 functions when present as a BamHI insert in pUC7. The analysis of cour-2 "maxi" cell proteins reveals the presence of proteins produced by the fusion of HSV-1 BamHI-M' sequences and the sequences of the vector genes, i.e., the major tet product for pBR322 and the modified beta-galactosidase for pUC7. These data suggest that the development of bacterial assays for fusion products of eucaryotic DNA open reading frames in plasmid vectors may be a useful technique for initiating gene function studies.