Genomic RNA of mengovirus V. Recognition of common features by ribosomes and eucaryotic initiation factor 2.

Binding of ribosomes to the 32P-labeled genomic RNA of mengovirus was studied in lysates of mouse L929 and Krebs ascites cells under conditions for initiation of translation. Upon total digestion with RNase T1, the 32P-labeled RNA protected in either 40S or 80S initiation complexes yielded four unique, large oligonucleotides. Each of these oligonucleotides occurred once in the viral RNA molecule. The same four oligonucleotides were recovered from 80S initiation complexes formed in lysates in which unlabeled mengovirus RNA had been translated extensively, indicating that recognition by ribosomes was not modulated detectably by a viral translation product. The recognition of intact, 32P-labeled mengovirus RNA by eucaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) was examined by direct complex formation. Fingerprint analysis of the RNA protected by eIF-2 against RNase T1 digestion yielded three T1 oligonucleotides that were identical to three of the four oligonucleotides protected in either 40S or 80S initiation complexes. A physical map of the large T1 oligonucleotides of the mengovirus RNA molecule was constructed, and the four protected oligonucleotides were found to map internally, within the region between the polycytidylate tract and the 3' end. For either ribosomes or eIF-2, the protected oligonucleotides could not be arranged in a continuous sequence, suggesting that they constitute at least two widely separated domains. These results show that ribosomes recognize and blind to more than a single sequence in mengovirus RNA, located internally in regions that are far removed from the 5' end of the molecule. eIF-2 itself binds with high specificity to mengovirus RNA, recognizing apparently three of the four sequences recognized by ribosomes.