Array analysis of simian varicella virus gene transcription in productively infected cells in tissue culture

Simian varicella virus (SW) is a neurotropic alphaherpesvirus of monkeys that is a model for varicella pathogenesis and latency. Like human varicella-zoster virus (VZV), SW causes chicken pox (varicella), becomes latent in ganglia along the entire neuraxis, and reactivates to produce shingles (zoster). We developed macroarrays to determine the extent of viral transcription from all 70 predicted SW open reading frames (ORFs) in infected cells in tissue culture. Cloned fragments (200 to 400 bp) from the 5' and 3' ends of each ORF were PCR amplified, quantitated, spotted onto nylon membranes, and fixed by UV cross-linking. Using a cDNA probe prepared from poly(A)(+) RNA extracted from SW-infected Vero cells at the height of the cytopathic effect (3 days after infection) and chemiluminescence for detection, transcripts corresponding to all SW ORFs were identified. The abundance of each SW transcript was compared with that previously demonstrated for VZV in infected tissue culture cells.