Base composition of rubella virus RNA. Brief report.

The base composition of 32P-labelled RNA of rubella virus was shown to be; Gp:31.1, Ap:21.9, Cp:34.3 and Up:12.8 per 100 nucleotides. The result demonstrates that the virus is distinct from other members of family Togaviridae in that it possesses RNA with relatively high contents of Gp and Cp, and low content of Up. Viral RNA adsorbed to oligo (dT)-cellulose column was shown to be infectious, whereas no infectivity of RNA appearing in the void volume was found. This may indicate that viral RNA needs to carry a minimal length of poly(A) to be infectious.