FIG. 2.

Maintenance of latency (42 days) following i.p. infection is independent of the infectious dose. B6 mice were infected i.p. for 42 days and harvested as described in the legend to Fig. 1. (A) Ex vivo reactivation from latency. A limiting-dilution ex vivo reactivation assay was used to determine the frequencies of peritoneal cells and splenocytes reactivating from latency, as described in the legend to Fig. 1A. (B) Presence of viral genome in latently infected cells. A limiting-dilution nested PCR assay specific for γHV68 gene 72 was used to determine the frequencies of peritoneal cells and splenocytes containing viral genome. Data points indicate the percentage of reaction mixtures at a given cell dilution that scored positive for the presence of viral genome (12 wells per dilution). The horizontal line indicates the 63.2% Poisson distribution line at which the frequency of cells bearing viral genome was calculated. CPE, cytopathic effect.