Homology between murine and human cellular DNA sequences and the terminal repetition of the S component of herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA.

DNA from trigeminal ganglia of mice latently infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 was cloned in bacteriophage lambda Charon 27. Three recombinant clones that cross-hybridize to each other and hybridize to the S-segment terminal repeat region of the herpesvirus genome were obtained. The region of homology maps within a 1.1 kb Sma l fragment approximately 400 bp from the S-segment terminal repeat terminus, outside the domain of the a sequences. The insert DNAs in these clones, as well as the Sma l fragment of viral DNA that contains the region of homology, hybridize to uninfected mouse brain DNA with a pattern indicative of the presence of repeated sequences, and also hybridize to discrete Eco Rl fragments of human DNA. These recombinant clones contain intermediate repetitive mouse genomic DNA sequences related to a small region of the viral S-segment terminal repeat, and those sequences are evolutionarily conserved in mammalian DNA.