ABSTRACT
Because of the highly cell-associated nature and poor growth characteristics of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in cell culture (discussed in Chapter 1), traditional virological approaches to study VZV have yielded only limited success. The advances in our understanding of VZV on the molecular level have been derived (almost exclusively) by using the powerful new tools of contemporary biology: monoclonal antibodies, immunoprecipitation, recombinant DNA, hybrid selection coupled with in vitro translation and immunoprecipitation, prokaryotic open reading frame expression vectors, blot and in situ hybridization, and direct DNA sequencing. In addition, knowledge concerning VZV has been gained by drawing parallels to herpes simplex virus (HSV), another neurotropic human herpesvirus. VZV and HSV cross-react immunologically, 1 and the DNAs of these two herpesviruses hybridize to each other under relaxed hybridization conditions. 2 Thus, there is intellectual support for drawing parallels. (This literature review was completed on December 1, 1985.)
