Purification of virus-specific RNA from chicken cells infected with avian sarcoma virus: identification of genome-length and subgenome-leghth viral RNAs.

Avian sarcoma virus (ASV)-specific RNA was purified from ASV-infected cells by using hybridization techniques which employ polydeoxycytidylic acid-elongated DNA complementary to ASV RNA as well as chromatography on polyinosinic acid-Sephadex columns. The purity and nucleotide sequence composition of purified, virus-specific RNA were established by rehybridization experiments and analysis of labeled RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotides by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Polyadenylic acid-containing RNA purified from ASV-infected cells contained approximately 1 to 4% virus-specific RNA, compared with 0.06 to 0.15% observed in uninfected cells. Sucrose gradient analysis of virus-specific RNA isolated from ASV-infected cells revealed two major classes of polyadenylated viral RNA with sedimentation values of 36S and 26-28S. Cells infected with transformation-defective ASV (virus containing a deletion of the sarcoma gene) contained 34S and 20-22S viral RNA species. Double-label experiments employing infected cells labeled initially for 48 h with [3H]uridine and then for either 30, 60, or 240 min with [32P]phosphate showed that the intracellular accumulation of genome-length RNA (36S) was significantly faster than that of the 26-28S viral RNA species.