The BamHI J fragment (0.706 to 0.737 map units) of pseudorabies virus is transcriptionally active during viral replication.

The BamHI J fragment of the pseudorabies virus (PRV) genome has not been associated with any viral transcripts during viral replication. In this report, data are presented to show that a portion of BamHI-J is transcribed during a productive infection. Four oligo(dT)-cellulose-selected RNA species were detected by hybridization with probes derived from BamHI-J. These RNAs were partially colinear, and they were transcribed in the opposite orientation with respect to the immediate-early gene (IE180) of PRV. At least one of the transcripts overlapped (antisense) the coding sequence of IE180 by 450 nucleotides. Expression of these RNAs was sensitive to phosphonoacetic acid, indicating that they are transcripts of PRV late genes. There were several similarities between these RNAs and the latency-associated transcripts detected in the trigeminal ganglia of swine latently infected with PRV (A. K. Cheung, J. Virol. 63: 2908-2913, 1989).