Localization of p53, retinoblastoma and host replication proteins at sites of viral replication in herpes-infected cells.

Replication of DNA occurs at discrete sites in eukaryotic cell nuclei, where replication proteins are clustered into large complexes, or 'replicases'. Similarly, viral DNA replication is a highly structured process, notably in herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1; reviewed in ref. 4) in which large globular 'replication compartments' containing the viral replication machinery exist. Replicating cellular DNA redistributes to these compartments upon HSV-1 infection. We have now used antibodies raised against several cellular proteins to detect changes in their subnuclear localization on HSV-1 infection. We found that various proteins involved in cellular DNA replication move to sites of viral DNA synthesis, whereas a selection of non-replication proteins do not. The retinoblastoma protein and p53 (the products of two putative anti-oncogenes) relocate to the same sites as known DNA replication proteins, suggesting that they may be associated with DNA replication complexes in normal, uninfected cells.