Generation of a novel human cytomegalovirus bacterial artificial chromosome tailored for transduction of exogenous sequences

Using TB40/E/Cre, we: i) found genome length-associated differences in growth and ii) demonstrated its utility as a system capable of efficient transduction of exogenous proteins and regulation of their accumulation over periods as short as 2 h. TB40/E/Cre is a powerful tool of broad applicability that can be adapted to study HCMV replication and cell biology in a variety of contexts.