Characterisation of the LdsRNA encoded mRNA of yeast.

Radioactive messenger RNA (mRNA) was isolated from a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain containing the L double stranded RNA (dsRNA) species. This mRNA was hybridised to LdsRNA isolated from the same strain. Analysis of the hybrid formed shows it to be of a similar size to the LdsRNA. It is concluded from this result that the mRNA complementary to the -ve strand of the LdsRNA is polycistronic.When the total mRNA is fractionated on oligo (dT) cellulose, RNA complementary to the -ve strand of LdsRNA is found only in the non-binding fraction. When LdsRNA is fractionated on oligo (dT) cellulose the majority is found in the non-binding fraction. It is concluded that neither the LdsRNA genome nor the mRNA it encodes have poly(A) tails of a significant length.