FIG 1.

VZV DNA and RNA analyses. DNA and mRNA were extracted from two different pieces of human brain tissue as described in Materials and Methods. (A) VZV genomes. Using DNA from VZV-infected MeWo cells at 48 h postinfection (hpi) (diluted 1:10) as a positive control and DNA from a water sample from the laboratory bench as a negative control, real-time PCR was carried out on the brain tissue using primers to VZV ORF68 and ORF62 genes and the cellular gene coding for GAPDH. (B) VZV genome copies. Using a standard curve, the number of genome copies was calculated from the PCR measurements in panel A. Given a known number of cells in the positive control, the number of genome copies was calculated. (C) VZV glycoprotein gene transcripts. Reverse transcription (RT)-qPCR measurements were made using the primers in Table 1 against cDNA from VZV-infected MRC-5 fibroblast cells (dark gray) or from brain tissue (light gray). (D) VZV regulatory gene transcripts. The herpes simplex ortholog is listed beneath each VZV gene.