Human papillomavirus type 33 in a tonsillar carcinoma generates its putative E7 mRNA via two E6* transcript species which are terminated at different early region poly(A) sites

Human papillomavirus type 33 (HPV-33)-specific early region transcripts in a tonsillar carcinoma were analyzed by using the RNA polymerase chain reaction method. A total of five cDNA species including species with potential to encode E6*I, E6*II, and E6*III, could be identified. As determined by 3' cDNA end mapping, one E6*I cDNA species was found to utilize a novel early region poly(A) site and was polyadenylated at or near the putative initiation codon of the E1 open reading frame (ORF). Compared with the HPV-16 and HPV-18 E6* mRNAs, the HPV-33 E6*I and E6*II species utilize different splice acceptor sites, the latter being localized within the E7 ORF. Furthermore, HPV-33 E6* mRNAs were found to contain a short overlapping ORF resulting in alternative coding potentials if translation were to start at an internal AUG codon within the E6 region. These results indicate that like HPV-16 and HPV-18, HPV-33 generates E6* mRNAs which may serve as efficient mRNAs for E7. However, HPV-33 has the ability to generate its putative E7 mRNAs by the utilization of two early region poly(A) sites, which offers the possibility of expressing E7 in different ways.