Oligonucleotide sequence analyses indicate that vesicular stomatitis virus large defective interfering virus particle RNA is made by internal deletion: evidence for similar transcription polyadenylation signals for the synthesis of all vesicular stomatitis virus mRNA species.

RNase T(1) oligonucleotide fingerprint analyses of three vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana serotype small defective interfering (DI) particle RNA species indicate that they only have oligonucleotides derived from the 5' region of the viral genome. These studies also indicate that these three DI RNAs have partial L gene sequences as well as two 5' viral oligonucleotides (59 and 70) that are not transcribed into L (or other) mRNA species (J. P. Clewley and D. H. L. Bishop, J. Virol. 30:116-123, 1979). Analyses of the large DI RNA (LT DI) reveal a different origin. The LT DI RNA has oligonucleotides derived from both the 3' end of the genome (including all the large oligonucleotides identified for N, NS, M, and G genes), in addition to at least one of the 5'-proximal L gene oligonucleotides (47), as well as all seven oligonucleotides (3, 38, 42, 43, 44B, 59, and 70) that are not protected from nuclease digestion after the formation of mRNA-viral RNA duplexes (Clewley and Bishop). It appears therefore that the genesis of LT RNA involves a deletion of internal L gene sequences from the viral RNA. Oligonucleotide sequence analyses have been undertaken on several of the vesicular stomatitis viral RNA oligonucleotides, including all seven (3, 38, 42, 43, 44B, 59, and 70) that are not transcribed into mRNA. The analyses confirm that oligonucleotides 59 [3'...GAACACCAAAAAUAAAAAAUA(G)...5'] and 70 [3'...GACCAAAACACCA(G)...5'] are at the 5'-end region of the viral genome. Oligonucleotide 38 [3'...GAAAUUCAUACUUUUUU(U)(G)...5'] may represent the termination signal for L mRNA synthesis (R. A. Lazzarini, personal communication). Oligonucleotide 43 [3'...GUAUACUUUUUUU(G)...5'] corresponds to the sequence shown to be the N gene mRNA polyadenylation signal (D. J. McGeoch, Cell 17:673-681, 1979). The other three oligonucleotides share a common feature with oligonucleotides 43 and 38, viz., a stretch of 6 or 7 U residues preceded by an AUAC sequence. Thus the sequence of oligonucleotide 3 is 3'...GAAUUAAUAUAAAAUUAAAAAUUAAAAAUACUUUUUU(U)(G)...5', whereas that of oligonucleotide 42 is 3'...GAUACUUUUUUUCAU(U)(G)...5', and that of oligonucleotide 44B is 3'...G(U)AUACUUUUUU(G)...5'. These sequence analyses suggest a common polyadenylation signal for the synthesis of all vesicular stomatitis virus mRNA species, i.e., the sequence (3')...AUACUUUUUU(U)...(5').