Fig 3.

Characterization of recombinant viruses. (A) Expression patterns of pUL56 (top) and pUL49.5 (bottom) in parental, mutant, and revertant viruses were detected by Western blotting. Cell lysates were prepared, and proteins were separated by SDS–10% PAGE before transfer to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. The blots were incubated with anti-pUL56 or anti-pUL49.5 polyclonal antibodies. Cell lysates from noninfected FHK cells were included as a control. β-Actin was used as a loading control. (B) For growth kinetics, NBL-6 cells were infected at an MOI of 0.5. Infected cells and supernatants were collected and virus titers were determined at the indicated times p.i. The data presented are means ± SDs of triplicate measurements. (C) Mean ± SD diameters of 50 plaques measured for each virus. The plaque diameter of parental viruses was set to 100%.