Heterogeneity in subregions of the terminal repeats of herpes simplex virus type 2 DNA

We constructed recombinant plasmids from the 0.5 molar terminal fragments of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2) DNA. Physical mapping of three different L-terminal clones demonstrated one, two or three copies of the terminally redundant a repeat. The nucleotide sequence at the end of the terminal a repeats was shown to be identical in these three cloned HSV2 genomic L-termini and closely resembled the internal a' repeat sequence reported previously by Davison and Wilkie. Virtually all clones that were obtained from the S-termini differed in a specific subregion of the inserts. This heterogeneous region of the HSV2 genome, that varied in size from 0.2 to 0.85 M daltons, seemed to result from local deletions or amplifications and mapped near the junctions between US and c repeats.