Presence of autocomplementary RNA with viral specificity in cells infected with herpes virus.

RNA from cells infected with Herpes simplex virus contain a higher percentage of double-stranded RNA than non-infected cells. This percentage increases three-fold upon self-annealing. The complementary RNA sequences were shown to be virus-specific by the following criteria: (1) high melting temperature than double-stranded RNA from non infected cells; (2) higher density in caesium sulphate; (3) specific hybridization with viral DNA.