We have characterized in detail those transcripts mapping to the varicella zoster virus (VZV) glycoprotein V (gpV) open reading frame (ORF). The analyses revealed that a major 1.95-kb and a minor 2.5-kb transcript map to these sequences for VZV strain Scott, with 1.8- and 2.3-kb transcripts in a vaccine Oka strain, consistent with intragenic repeat (R2) copy number differences. The transcripts for each strain are 5' coterminal, are polyadenylated, and do not seem to be spliced. Upstream of the cap site there are few obvious regulatory consensus sequences, but there is a potential CCAAT box at -59 bp and an unusual sequence at -25 to -33, ATTTAAATT, which may serve as the TATA box for this gene. The 3' termini map 10 to 20 bases downstream from potential polyadenylation signals: ATAAA for the 1.95-kb transcript and ACGTAAA for the 2.5-kb transcript. This transcript pattern is quite different from that observed for the gpV homologue in herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), glycoprotein C (gC). Strain Scott synthesizes about 20-fold more gpV-specific transcripts than a strain of the Oka vaccine virus, reflecting the amounts of gpV polypeptide accumulating in both strains; this implies that the defect in Oka gpV polypeptide production is at the level of transcription.