FIG. 2.

Effect of viral dose and transient immunosuppression on numbers of n212 genomes in latently infected TG. (A) Viral DNA standards for competitive PCR. HSV-1 RR and RR competitor PCR products were coamplified from standards containing (i) twofold dilutions of viral genomes, (ii) a constant amount of RR competitor template, and (iii) 100 ng of uninfected TG DNA. Duplicate blots of PCR products were hybridized to either an RR gene-specific probe (RR) or a competitor-specific probe (competitor). (B) Log-log plot of the ratio of RR to competitor product (output) as a function of viral genome copy number (input) in viral DNA standards. The ratio of the number of viral genomes/TG was calculated by multiplying the number of viral genomes/100 ng of TG DNA by 300, based on the fact that there is ∼30 μg of total DNA in each TG. (C) KOS and n212 genome loads in TG on day 30 p.i. (n = 3 mice per group), compared to that for uninfected TG (−). The significance of the differences in numbers of viral genomes in TG was evaluated by one-way ANOVA. VEH, vehicle.