Minor nucleic acids in influenza virus.

A nucleic acid fraction consisting of RNA and DNA sequences with an apparent mol. wt. of 1.4 to 1.5 x 10(6) is present in minor amounts in purified influenza virus. The RNA is virus-specific and in the case of fowl plague virus (FPV) contains sequences of genes 2 and 7 which code for one of the proteins constituting the polymerase complex and for the matrix protein respectively.