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Studies of the size, composition, and structure of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the F and G prototypes of herpes simplex virus (HSV) subtypes 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) showed the following. (i) As previously reported by Good-heart et al. HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA have a buoyant density of 1.726 and 1.728 g/cm(3), corresponding to 67 and 69 guanine +/- cytosine moles per cent, respectively. The difference in guanine plus cytosine content of the DNA species was confirmed by the finding of a 1 C difference in T(m). (ii) The DNA from purified virus on cocentrifugation with T4 DNA in neutral sucrose density gradients sedimented at 55S, corresponding to 99 +/- 5 million daltons in molecular weight. HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA could not be differentiated with respect to size. (iii) Cosedimentation of alkali-denatured DNA from purified virus with T4 DNA on alkaline sucrose density gradients consistently yielded several bands of single-stranded HSV DNA ranging from fragments 7 x 10(6) daltons to intact strands 48 x 10(6) daltons in molecular weight.
Kieff et al. (1971) studied this question.