FIG. 5.

Effect of BRLF1 frameshift mutations and nonsense mutations on translation of bicistronic ZLUC. In panel A, APA-FS and BST-FS were −1-frameshift mutations generated at the ApaI and BstXI sites of BRLF1, respectively; linker A consisted of a termination codon, and its insertion terminated the translation of BRLF1 at the insertion site; linker B had a sequence identical to that of linker A but was inserted in the opposite orientation, such that there was not a termination codon and the reading frame of BRLF1 was not changed. In panel B, the CAG mutation changed the termination codon of BRLF1 to a CAG codon, the TAA mutation prematurely terminated translation of BRLF1 at a location 36 nt upstream from the termination codon of BRLF1, and ΔNsiI was a deletion which removed the termination codon of BRLF1. ZLUC expression from pCMV-RZLUC (black bars) and pRZLUC (white bars) containing these mutations was examined in P3HR1 cells under latent conditions.