Coalescing replication compartments provide the opportunity for recombination between coinfecting herpesviruses

Enosh Tomer, Efrat M. Cohen, Nir Drayman, Amichay Afriat, Matthew D. Weitzman, Assaf Zaritsky, Oren Kobiler*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Homologous recombination (HR) is considered a major driving force of evolution because it generates and expands genetic diversity. Evidence of HR between coinfecting herpesvirus DNA genomes can be found frequently both in vitro and in clinical isolates. Each herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) replication compartment (RC) derives from a single incoming genome and maintains a specific territory within the nucleus. This raises intriguing questions about where and when coinfecting viral genomes interact. To study the spatiotemporal requirements for intergenomic recombination, we developed an assay with dual-color FISH that enables detection of HR between different pairs of coinfecting HSV-1 genomes. Our results revealed that HR increases intermingling of RCs derived from different genomes. Furthermore, inhibition of RC movement reduces the rate of HR events among coinfecting viruses. Finally, we observed correlation between nuclear size and the number of RCs per nucleus. Our findings suggest that both viral replication and recombination are subject to nuclear spatial constraints. Other DNA viruses and cellular DNA are likely to encounter similar restrictions.—Tomer, E., Cohen, E. M., Drayman, N., Afriat, A., Weitzman, M. D., Zaritsky, A., Kobiler, O. Coalescing replication compartments provide the opportunity for recombination between coinfecting herpesviruses. FASEB J. 33, 9388–9403 (2019). www.fasebj.org.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9388-9403
Number of pages16
JournalFASEB Journal
Volume33
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2019

Keywords

  • DNA recombination
  • herpes simplex virus
  • nuclear spatial constraints
  • viral nuclear interactions

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