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Vaccinia virus late transcripts generated in vitro have a poly(A) head.
Author(s) -
Schwer B.,
Stunnenberg H. G.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02929.x
Subject(s) - biology , vaccinia , transcription (linguistics) , in vitro , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , virus , promoter , virology , genetics , gene expression , recombinant dna , linguistics , philosophy
A cell free system mediating accurate transcription of vaccinia virus genes was established using lysates of cells in the late phase of infection. Vaccinia late genes are faithfully transcribed in this extract whereas cellular pol II and pol III promoters are not recognized. The late viral transcripts contain a poly(A) head of approximately 35 nt at the 5′ end which is not co‐linearly encoded in the externally added template. The transcripts obtained in vitro are indistinguishable from the mature in vivo RNAs. The poly(A) head is synthesized de novo and its formation appears to be directly coupled to the transcription of the gene. The synthesis of the poly(A) head transcripts in vitro is consistent with a proposed slippage model.