Synthesis of complementary RNA containing polyadenylic acid by Sendai virions in vitro.

Sendai virus synthesized, in vitro, [32P]AMP- and [3H]AMP-labeled RNA that ranged in size from 3 to 25S with major peaks at 7S and 13S. Both labeled products were predominantly single-stranded RNA and were complementary in base sequence to 50S virion RNA. Passage of the 3 to 25S in vitro RNA transcripts through a polyuridylic acid-cellulose column revealed that only the larger (predominantly 18S) RNA transcripts contained polyadenylic acid[poly(A)] segments capable of binding to the column. After treatment with a combination of RNase A and T1, the majority of the in vitro poly(A) sedimented at 6S although the product ranged in size from 3 to 9S. Proof that the RNase-resistant material was indeed poly(A) was obtained by nearest-neighbor analysis when 95% of the radioactivity was recovered in AMP.