The transcription of the genome of the UV-inducible Sulfolobus virus-like particle SSV1 was studied. Eight different transcripts could be distinguished by Northern analysis that were present in uninduced cells and the coordinately increased in amount after UV induction of SSV1. Using single-stranded DNA probes from different parts of the genome, the approximate map positions of these RNAs and the directions of transcription were determined. In two cases, terminator read-through resulted in the formation of more than one RNA species from a single 5' end and therefore the eight different RNAs corresponded to only five different transcriptional starts. Two RNAs sharing a common 5' end encode SSV1 structural proteins. The 5' end of these transcripts was determined by S1 nuclease analysis. About 20 nucleotides upstream of the transcriptional start of these RNAs, there is an AT-rich region resembling putative promoter sequences which have been found at a similar distance 5' to the genes encoding stable RNAs in Thermoproteus. In addition to the eight constitutive transcripts, a UV-inducible RNA of 0.3 kb was mapped on the SSV1 genome. In contrast to all other RNAs, it was not detectable in uninduced cells and it is expressed shortly before the amplification and packaging of the SSV1 genome commences.