In vivo transcription of the 5'-terminal extracistronic region of vesicular stomatitis virus RNA

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Abstract
In vivo transcription and polyadenylation at the junction of the L cistron and the 5''-terminal extracistronic region of vesicular stomatitis virus RNA was investigated. Annealing of 5'' 32P-labeled RNA representing the 5''-terminal noncoding 77 nucleotides of vesicular stomatitis virus genomic RNA to L gene mRNA resulted in specific duplex formation. Two specific RNase T1- and RNase A-resistant duplexes, 66 and 77 nucleotides long, bound to oligo(T) cellulose. The specific sizes of the duplexes and their selection by oligo(T) cellulose chromatography demonstrated that they were covalently linked to the poly(A) tail of L gene mRNA. Apparently, the viral polymerase polyadenylates L gene mRNA in vivo by using the stretch of 7 uridine residues at the end of the L cistron and the polymerase can resume transcribing the 5''-terminal extracistronic region, resulting in a covalent linkage of the transcript to the poly(A) tail of L gene mRNA.