A spliced Epstein-Barr virus gene expressed in immortalized lymphocytes is created by circularization of the linear viral genome.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) immortalizes B-lymphocytes efficiently in vitro and in most or all of the cells a latent infection is established. Only a few viral genes are expressed during latency and these apparently maintain cell immortalization by EBV. A 1.9 kb cDNA clone of an EBV mRNA has been isolated from a B95-8 cDNA library and this cDNA corresponds to a new member of the group of EBV latent cycle genes. On Northern blots two polyadenylated transcripts 1.7 and 2.0 kb in length have been detected by the cDNA clone in B95-8 cells as well as in latently infected cell lines and in various cell lines derived from Burkitt's lymphomas. The cDNA sequence showed that this gene consists of nine exons and showed that this gene consists of nine exons and that the transcription unit crosses the terminal repeats. Thus, the intact gene is created upon infection by the circularization of the linear viral DNA molecule at the terminal repeats. One major open reading frame is present in the cDNA apparently coding for a 53 kd protein. A strongly hydrophilic part of the protein is followed by a very hydrophobic C-terminus, perhaps suggesting a membrane protein. The gene is unrelated to the other latent cycle genes, the EBV nuclear antigens (EBNA 1-4), the leader protein (LP), and the latent membrane protein (LMP) genes. This is the first example of a viral gene whose coding sequence is only created by joining of the ends of a linear virus.