Strandedness of Pichinde virus RNA.

The Pichinde virus RNA did not possess the following characteristics of eucaryotic mRNA: polyadenylic acid sequence, capped methylated structure, and ability to direct protein synthesis in vitro. Polysomal RNA extracted from cells infected with Pichinde virus reannealed with 32P-labeled virus RNA, protecting about 60% of the latter against RNase degestion. The polyadenylic acid-containing polysomal RNA also reannealed to the 32P-labeled virus RNA to approximately the same extent. These indicate that the major part of the genomic RNA of Pichinde virus is negative stranded.