CORONAVIRUS TRANSCRIPTION EARLY IN INFECTION

We studied the accumulation kinetics of murine coronavirus mouse hepat itis virus (MHV) RNAs early in infection by using cloned MHV defective interfering (DI) RNA that contained an intergenic sequence from which subgenomic DI RNA is synthesized in MHV-infected cells. Genomic DI RN A and subgenomic DI RNA accumulated at a constant ratio from 3 to 11 h postinfection (p.i,) in the cells infected with MHV-containing DI par ticles. Earlier, at 1 h p,i,, this ratio was not constant; only genomi c DI RNA accumulated, indicating that MHV RNA replication, but not MHV RNA transcription, was active during the first hour of MHV infection. Negative-strand genomic DI RNA and negative-strand subgenomic DI RNA were first detectable at 1 and 3 h p.i,, respectively, and the amounts of both RNAs increased gradually until 6 h p,i, These data showed tha t at 2 h p,i,, subgenomic DI RNA was undergoing synthesis in the cells in which negative-strand subgenomic DI RNA was undetectable. These da ta, therefore, signify that negative-strand genomic DI RNA, but not ne gative-strand subgenomic DI RNA, was an active template for subgenomic DI RNA synthesis early in infection.