Abstract
The methylation pattern of virion-associated high-MW RNA synthesized in vitro by purified vaccinia virus was determined. Analysis of purified high-MW RNA synthesized with S-[methyl-3H]-adenosylmethionine and .alpha.-[32P]UTP as precursors showed that essentially all molecules contained blocked and methylated structures of the type m7G(5'')ppp(5'')Gm and m7G(5'')ppp(5'')Am. There was no detectable methylation at internal sites, and under several different conditions of synthesis, the ratio of molecules containing m7G(5'')ppp(5'')Gm to those containing m7G(5'')ppp(5'')Am was similar for both the virion-associated high-MW RNA and the virion-released 8-12S mRNA.