Antigens specified by herpesviruses: I. Effect of arginine deprivation on antigen synthesis

The synthesis of herpes simplex virus antigens was studied in BHK21 cells deprived of arginine for 48 hours prior to infection and maintained in the absence of arginine thereafter. Even though infectious virus yields were 10,000-fold lower than those obtained in the presence of arginine, immunofluorescent (IF) and complement-fixing (CF) antigens were detected. However, in the absence of arginine both IF and CF antigens were found primarily in the cytoplasm of the infected cells. Release of the arginine block at 10 hours after infection resulted in the prompt appearance of increasing amounts of nuclear IF and CF antigens; within 6 hours after arginine addition, the extent of nuclear immunofluorescence and the titers of CF antigen in the nuclear fractions approximated those of infected cells that had been maintained in the presence of arginine throughout the 16–18-hour period.