Uninfected Cell Polymerase Efficiently Transcribes Early but not Late Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 mRNA

The sequences of the DNAs encoding the 5′ends of one early and one late herpes simplex virus type 1 mRNA were analyzed, and the 5′ends of these mRNA species were precisely located. Neither mRNA species is spliced and the noncoding strand of the DNA contains recognizable T-A-T-A and C-A-T boxes upstream from their respective 5′ends. The early mRNA was efficiently transcribed by a commercially available uninfected cell lysate system, but the late mRNA was not. This difference between early and late mRNAs appears to be general in this virus.