Genomic variation among herpes simplex virus type 1 strains: Virus DNA analysis of isolates from saudi patients

Fifty‐two clinical isolates of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐1) from Saudi Arabian patients were analysed by restriction endonuclease digestion of the virus DNA using the enzymes Hindlll and BarnHI, followed by hybridization with 32P labelled DNA of laboratory strain F. Of the isolates, 17 were resolved into four distinct cleavage patterns with HindIII restriction enzyme. The remaining 35 strains had the same cleavage pattern as the standard HSV‐1‐F. Further investigation of the 52 isolates with BarnHI, which is a multicut enzyme and therefore capable of higher resolution, differentiated 47 of the 52 isolates and were assigned into nine cleavage groups. Comparing our findings with similar studies reported elsewhere suggest geographic clustering of HSV‐1 strains. Fragments giving rise to the observed DNA polymorphism were mapped to the unique region of the long and short segments of the genome. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Copyright © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company