Terminal repetitive sequences in herpesvirus saimiri virion DNA

The H-DNA repeat unit of Herpesvirus saimiri strain 11 was cloned in plasmid vector pAGO, and the nucleotide sequence was determined by the dideoxy chain termination method. One unit of repetitive DNA has 1,444 base pairs with 70.8% G+C content. The structural features of repeat DNA sequences at the termini of intact virion M-DNA (160 kilobases) and orientation of reiterated DNA were analyzed by radioactive end labeling of M-DNA, followed by cleavage of the end fragments with restriction endonucleases. The termini appeared to be blunt ended with a 5'-phosphate group, probably generated during encapsidation by cleavage in the immediate vicinity of the single ApaI recognition site in the H-DNA repeat unit. The sequence did not reveal sizeable open reading frames, the longest hypothetical peptide from H-DNA being 85 amino acids. There was no evidence for an mRNA promoter or terminator element, and H-DNA-specific transcription could not be found in productively infected cells.