Summary Ultraviolet irradiation of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) caused a rapid dose-related decline in virus infectivity, manifested by virus antigen induction, and in virus production as measured by plaque formation and infectious centre assay. The virus survival curve was multi-component, suggesting host cell-assisted reactivation. Multiplicity reactivation and photoreactivation of MCMV were not observed in these experiments. Productive infection was more sensitive to u.v. irradiation than was virus antigen production, indicating differential inactivation of virus functions. The effects of u.v. irradiation were similar in most respects to those reported for human cytomegalovirus.