Transcriptional mapping in Chilo iridescent virus infections

Summary.

Chilo iridescent virus (CIV) belongs to the family Iridoviridae, which are icosahedral cytoplasmic DNA viruses with large, linear, and circularly permuted genomes. Previous studies on infected-cell-specific polypeptides suggested temporal regulation of CIV gene expression. Recently, we demonstrated three temporal classes at the transcriptional level, in CIV infections of a spruce budworm cell line. We also demonstrated a transcriptional cascade with positive and negative control. In this paper, we assign all detectable viral transcripts into respective temporal classes and map them using restriction fragments from a genomic library. More than 90 percent of the genome is transcriptionally active with at least four major clusters of immediate-early transcription and at least three delayed-early clusters. Late transcripts were observed throughout the genome. There was at least one exclusive region in the genome for each of the three temporal classes. We correlated transcribed regions with ORFs on the CIV genome and showed that known ORFs in the exclusive regions are generally consistent with phase-specific requirements of large DNA viruses. Our data also suggest the presence of 5’ or 3’ coterminal transcripts. This is the first complete transcription map for a member of the genus Iridovirus.