Inhibition of pseudorabies virus replication by a chimeric trans-gene product repressing transcription of the immediate-early gene.

A chimeric gene encoding a fusion protein consisting of the DNA-binding domain of the immediate-early (IE) protein of pseudorabies virus (PRV) and a tail-truncated Vmw65 of herpes simplex virus 1, lacking the transcription activation domain, was constructed. The chimeric gene product inhibited transcription from the PRV IE promoter in a transient expression assay. A HeLa cell line stably transformed with the chimeric gene showed remarkable resistance to PRV infection. In the transformed cells infected with PRV, transcription of the PRV IE gene was repressed, indicating that the resistance of the cells to PRV infection was due to interference with IE gene transcription by the fusion protein.