Altered thymidine-thymidylate kinases from strains of herpes simplex virus with modified drug sensitivities to acyclovir and (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine.

Virus-coded thymidine (dThd) kinases were purified by affinity chromatography from a parental strain (SC16) and two strains (SC16 B3 and SC16 S1) of herpes simplex virus, Type 1, with altered drug sensitivities. These latter two strains were less sensitive, respectively, to E-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BrVdUrd) and to both BrVdUrd and 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine (acyclovir). The enzymes were characterized with respect to physical and catalytic properties. The enzyme from SC16 B3 was very similar to the parental enzyme except in its substrate specificity and kinetic constants. It catalyzed the phosphorylation of BrVdUrd at a relative rate that was 110% of the rate with dThd versus a relative rate of 140% with the parental enzyme. The apparent Km value for BrVdUrd was 6 microM versus 0.1 microM for the parental enzyme. The reaction kinetics with acyclovir were similar for the two enzymes. The SC16 B3 enzyme catalyzed the phosphorylation of dTMP, but at only 2% the efficiency of the parental enzyme; phosphorylation of the monophosphate of BrVdUrd (BrVdUMP) was not detected with the SC16 B3 enzyme. The enzyme from the SC16 S1 variant had a much narrower phosphate acceptor specificity than the enzyme from the parental virus. BrVdUrd was a substrate but with a relative rate of 30% and an apparent Km value of 4 microM; acyclovir was neither detectably phosphorylated nor a good inhibitor. BrVdUMP was not detectably phosphorylated. The relative efficiencies of the two variant enzymes for acyclovir phosphorylation correlated well with the sensitivities of the viruses to this compound. In contrast, the relative efficiencies of the second phosphorylation step (BrVdUMP to BrVdUDP) were most consistent with the sensitivities of the viruses to BrVdUrd.