Identification of human herpesvirus 6 latency-associated transcripts

Four kinds of latency-associated transcripts of human herpesvirus 6 were identified which were detected only in latently infected cells. Although they were oriented in the same direction as the immediate-early 1 and 2 (IE1/IE2) genes and shared their protein-coding region with IE1/IE2, their transcription start sites and exon(s) were latency associated.