RNA synthesis in cells infected with herpes simplex virus. II. Evidence that a class of viral mRNA is derived from a high molecular weight precursor synthesized in the nucleus.

Viral RNA extracted from the cytoplasmic polyribosomes of human epidermoid carcinoma no. 2 cells infected with herpes simplex virus (mRNA) had a sedimentation coefficient between 10S and 20S while that from nuclei of infected cells varied in size from 10S to >80S. Estimates of the maximum molecular weight of viral RNA from its sedimentation coefficients suggest that at least 10 per cent of the viral genome is transcribed as a single molecule. The ratio of RNA of different sizes found in the nuclei of cells pulse labeled for 12 minutes was approximately the same as those found in cells labeled for longer intervals implying that either some classes of viral mRNA were made as small molecules or that the large viral RNA molecules were cleaved soon after synthesis. Cytoplasmic mRNA competed to a level of at least 80 per cent in viral DNA-RNA hybridization tests with >50S RNA extracted from nuclei of infected cells. This is consistent with the hypothesis that viral mRNA is produced by cleavage of a large precursor RNA molecule.