FIG 7.

Deletion of MIE intron A results in decreased IE1 and IE2 mRNA and protein expression. (A) MRC-5 fibroblasts were infected with the indicated strains of HCMV (MOI of 0.5). The expression of representative HCMV immediate early (IE1 and IE2), early (UL44), and late (pp28) proteins was measured by Western blotting. (B) Fibroblasts were infected as in panel A. DNA was extracted from infected cells at 2 h after infection, and HCMV genome abundance was measured by qPCR. (C) MRC-5 fibroblasts were infected as in panel A. The relative abundance of IE1, IE2, and UTR136 mRNAs in cells infected with each recombinant virus was measured by qRT-PCR and compared to the levels in cells infected with wild-type HCMV, which was set at one. Values that are significantly different (P < 0.05) from the WT value are indicated by an asterisk.