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

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 oligodeoxythymidylic acid cellulose. The specific sizes of the duplexes and their selection by oligodeoxythymidylic acid cellulose chromatography demonstrated that they were covalently linked to the polyadenylic acid tail of L gene mRNA. These data strongly suggest that the viral polymerase polyadenylates L gene mRNA in vivo by using the stretch of seven uridine residues at the end of the L cistron and that the polymerase can resume transcribing the 5'-terminal extracistronic region, resulting in a covalent linkage of the transcript to the polyadenylic acid tail of L gene mRNA.