Analysis of human herpesvirus 6 latent infection in the brain.

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Four kinds of latency-associated transcripts of human herpesvirus 6 were identified which were detected only in latently infected cells. Although they were oriented in the same direction as the immediate-early land 2 (IE1/IE2) genes and shared their protein-coding region with IE1/IE2, their transcription start sites and exon(s) were latency associated.Latency-associated transcripts of human herpesvirus 6 (H6LTs) (K.Kondo et al.J.Virol.76:4145-4151, 2002) were maximally expressed at a fairly stable intermediate stage between latency and reactivation both in vivo and in vitro. H6LTs functioned as sources of immediate-early protein 1 at this stage, which up-regulated the viral reactivation.The U3-U7 gene cluster of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was replaced with an enhanced green fluorescent protein-puromycin gene cassette containing the cytomegalovirus major immediate-early promoter. Neither viral replication in T cells nor latency and reactivation in macrophages was impaired. During HHV-6 latency, the cytomegalovirus promoter used the transcription start sites employed in cytomegalovirus latency.