Regulation of murine cytomegalovirus gene expression. I. Transcription during productive infection

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Abstract
Murine cytomegalovirus RNA synthesis in productively infected mouse embryo cultures was measured by reassociation kinetics with iodinated viral DNA. The data were analyzed by a computer program and indicated the following: before DNA replication approximately 25% of the genome was transcribed into asymmetric transcripts, of which slightly fewer than half of the sequences were recovered from the cytoplasm. After viral DNA replication, approximately 38% of the genome was transcribed (5% as symmetric transcripts) and again less than half of the sequences appeared in the cytoplasm. Early and late RNA comprised 2 abundance classes differing about 8- to 10-fold in concentration. Early RNA was a subset of late RNA. The RNA sequences synthesized in late-infected cells in the presence of cytosine arbinoside or cycloheximide were similar to early RNA. Thus, murine cytomegalovirus displays temporal, quantitative and post-transcriptional controls over gene expression, but the pattern differs considerably from herpes simplex virus.