- Volume 39, Issue 1, 1978

The fate of the 3H-dT-labelled parental DNA of normal and photoinactivated herpes simplex virus type 1 (KOS strain) was followed for 8 h after infection. The sedimentation coefficients of parental virus DNA from cells infected with normal virions increased and became associated with the replicative intermediates of HSV-1 DNA. When cultured in 5-bromodeoxyuridine-containing medium, the buoyant density of the normal parental virus DNA shifted to the hybrid region (containing heavy and light molecules) of the caesium chloride density gradient. The parental virus DNA of photoinactivated virions, however, degraded quickly and did not participate in progeny virus DNA replication.