The Frequencies of Transcription from the E- and L-Strands of Polyoma DNA

Exhaustion type hybridization was used to measure the amount of nuclear virus RNA complementary to the early (E) and late (L) polyoma virus DNA strands. At 36 h after infection between 2.5 and 7.3% of the newly synthesized virus RNA was complementary to the E-strand (- strand) and between 92.7 and 97.5% was complementary to the L-strand (+ strand). This proportion was independent of the labelling time, indicating similar accumulation of the E- and L-RNA transcripts in the nucleus. The nuclear E- and L-RNA transcripts sedimented in a similar manner through sucrose gradients.