Analysis of the major transcripts encoded by the long repeat of human cytomegalovirus strain AD169.

In this report, we describe the size and kinetics of appearance of RNAs from the long repeat of human cytomegalovirus. The most abundant RNA from this region was a 2.7-kilobase (kb) species that was detected throughout the infection and was most abundant at 27 and 72 h after infection. The 2.7-kb RNA was the only major species detected with a probe that included the terminus of the long repeat and the heterogeneous L-S junction region. Other transcripts were detected with probes from the internal portion of the long repeat, including an immediate-early RNA of 1.3 kb, early and late RNAs of 1.2 kb, and minor late transcripts of 4.4, 3.6, 3.3, and 1.8 kb. S1 nuclease and exonuclease VII protection analyses of RNA from immediate-early, early, midpoint, and late times in the infection indicated that the major 2.7-kb RNA was not spliced and that the RNA mapped within the long repeat, 1.6 kb from the heterogeneous region. No evidence for temporally regulated changes in transcription initiation, splicing, or choice of 3' end of this RNA was observed. Nuclease protection analysis also demonstrated that the second most abundant late RNA from this region, the 1.2-kb species, was not spliced and had the same polarity as the 2.7-kb RNA. The 1.2-kb also mapped entirely within the long repeat, with its 3' terminus 1.7 kb upstream from the 5' terminus of the 2.7-kb RNA.