Site on the vesicular stomatitis virus genome specifying polyadenylation and the end of the L gene mRNA

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Abstract
The 5''-terminal nucleotide sequence from positions 50-130 of vesicular stomatitis virus RNA was determined indirectly using a defective interfering particle RNA which contains covalently linked genomic minus and antigenomic plus sense RNA. The last 18 nucleotides of the L gene coding for the viral polymerase were identified and isolated by specific duplex formation between 5'' terminally labeled oligonucleotides from a small single-stranded defective interfering particle RNA and L gene mRNA. The L gene ends at position 60 from the 5'' terminus of the vesicular stomatitis virus genome. The first 7 adenine residues in the polyadenylic acid tail of L gene mRNA may be coded for in the genome and the viral transcriptase itself may carry out polyadenylation, possibly by chattering at the uridine-rich sequence at the end of the L gene. Analysis of the 5''-terminal sequence of vesicular stomatitis virus genomic RNA revealed that it might fold into a complex secondary structure with possibly 62% of the bases paired.