Direction of synthesis of the message for a 35 000 polypeptide of herpes simplex virus type 2

A restriction endonuclease map of the coding sequences for the transformation-related 35 000 polypeptide of herpes simplex virus type 2 is reported, using 11 enzymes that cut DNA infrequently. Hybrid-arrested translation with small DNA fragments was used to locate the 5' terminus of these coding sequences. A novel procedure involving translation of the 35 000 mRNA selected with cloned viral DNA that had been digested with exonuclease was employed to confirm that this message is transcribed from left to right. The 35 000 polypeptide can thus be assigned to a 1.2-kilobase mRNA recently reported with the same starting point and direction.