Genome location of polyadenylated transcripts of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 DNA

Abstract

The genome location of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) polyadenylated RNA has been studied by hybridization of herpesvirus-specific nuclear and cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNA to the Eco R, restriction enzyme fragments of herpesvirus DNA, which have been separated by agarose gel electrophoresis and transferred to nitrocellulose paper. For both HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA, the nuclear and the cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNA are distributed on all the Eco R I fragments of the homologous DNA. In a heterologous system, total polyadenylated RNA from HSV-1-infected cells was annealed to the Eco R I fragments of HSV-2 DNA and vice versa. HSV-2 polyadenylated RNA hybridized to all fragments of HSV-1 DNA, and HSV-1 polyadenylated RNA hybridized to all but three of the fragments of HSV-2 DNA. These data indicate that the DNA base sequence homology between the two herpesvirus strains is dispersed throughout the genome and is not located in a single contiguous block.