About the Authors

William P. Halford

halford@siumed.edu

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America

Ringo Püschel

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America

Edward Gershburg

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America

Andrew Wilber

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America

Svetlana Gershburg

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America

Brandon Rakowski

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: William Halford is a co-author on United States Patent Appication Publication US2010/0226940 A1, which describes the uses of herpes simplex virus mutant ICP0 in the design of a live-attenuated HSV-2 vaccine strain. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: WPH BR RP. Performed the experiments: WPH BR RP SG EG AW. Analyzed the data: WPH EG AW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: WPH BR RP SG EG AW. Wrote the manuscript: WPH.