Analysis of vaccinia virus transcriptional complexity in vitro and in vivo: characterization of RNase T1-resistant 5'-terminal oligonucleotides

Capped poly(A) leaders of variable lengths at the 5' ends of vaccinia virus late mRNAs

Evidence for capped poly(A) leaders of variable lengths located immediately upstream of the translation initiation codon was obtained by direct analyses of a major late mRNA species. A decapping-recapping method was used to specifically substitute a radioactively labeled phosphate for an unlabeled one within the cap structure. RNase H-susceptible sites were made by hybridizing synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides to the mRNA encoding a late major structural protein of 11 kilodaltons. Sequences of the type m7G(5')pppAmp (Ap)nUpG. . ., where n varies from a few to more than 40 nucleotides, were deduced by analysis of the length and sequence of RNase H, RNase T1, and RNase U2 digestion products.

Messenger RNAs of a strongly-expressed late gene of cowpox virus contain 5'-terminal poly(A) sequences

We have identified and characterized one of the most strongly-expressed genes of cowpox virus (CPV). This is the gene encoding the major protein component of the A-type inclusion bodies produced by this virus. This gene (designated the 160K gene) is transcribed late during the infection. Analyses of its mRNAs showed that these late RNAs, unlike all other characterized late mRNAs of poxviruses, are uniform in length. However, the most remarkable feature of the mRNAs of the 160K gene is the structure of their 5'-termini. Most of these mRNAs have 5'-terminal poly(A) sequences containing 5-21 residues. Furthermore, these 5'-terminal poly(A) sequences are not complementary to the corresponding region of the template strand of the viral DNA. Instead, the nucleotide sequences of the mRNA and the viral DNA diverge at the site of the three As in the sequence 5'-TAAATG-3' containing the gene's initiation codon. Consequently, the poly(A) provides the leader sequences of these mRNAs. These unusual 5'-terminal structures suggest that the late mRNAs of pox-virus genes are generated by a novel process.

Construction of poxviruses as cloning vectors: insertion of the thymidine kinase gene from herpes simplex virus into the DNA of infectious vaccinia virus

We have constructed recombinant vaccinia viruses containing the thymidine kinase gene from herpes simplex virus. The gene was inserted into the genome of a variant of vaccinia virus that had undergone spontaneous deletion as well as into the 120-megadalton genome of the large prototypic vaccinia variant. This was accomplished via in vivo recombination by cotransfection of eukaryotic tissue culture cells with cloned BamHI-digested thymidine kinase gene from herpes simplex virus containing flanking vaccinia virus DNA sequences and infectious rescuing vaccinia virus. Pure populations of the recombinant viruses were obtained by replica filter techniques or by growth of the recombinant virus in biochemically selective medium. The herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene, as an insert in vaccinia virus, is transcribed in vivo and in vitro, and the fidelity of in vivo transcription into a functional gene product was detected by the phosphorylation of 5-[125I]iodo-2'-deoxycytidine.