Identification of herpesvirus sylvilagus-induced polypeptides in productively infected cells.

Polypeptides synthesized in cell cultures infected with high multiplicities of herpesvirus sylvilagus were identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of [35S]methionine-labeled cell extracts. Initiation of polypeptide synthesis was detected by 6 h after infection. The maximum intensity of many [35S]methionine-labeled viral bands was observed at 45 h after infection. Production of detectable infectious virus began between 18 and 24 h and reached a plateau at 48 h after infection. Immunoprecipitation of cell extracts identified a minimum of 45 virus-induced polypeptides ranging in molecular weight from 230,000 to 27,000. The major polypeptide appeared to have a molecular weight of 150,000. The pattern of these extracts suggested that the synthesis of host polypeptides is stimulated during the first 12 h and thereafter reduced, but not completely inhibited, during the remaining course of infection.