Detection of pseudorabies virus transcripts in trigeminal ganglia of latently infected swine

Two pseudorabies virus (PRV) poly(A)+ RNAs, 2.0 and 0.95 kilobases, were detected in the trigeminal ganglia of latently infected pigs. These RNAs were partially colinear at the 3' end. They were located in the BamHI J fragment (0.706 to 0.737 map units), 3' of the PRV immediate-early gene. A potential polyadenylation signal was also identified in BamHI-J. The direction of transcription of the latency-associated RNAs was antiparallel (i.e., opposite in polarity) to that of the PRV immediate-early mRNA.