title: Appearance of viral RNA transcripts in the early stage of duck hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: Sequential analysis of duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) DNA and RNA transcripts in the liver of the early stage of infection was carried out using 1-day-old ducklings inoculated with DHBV-positive serum. Using Southern blot analysis, a band of supercoiled DHBV DNA was detectable at 6 hr, when DHBV-specific poly[A]+RNA was also observed by Northern blot analysis as a faint smear below 3-kb. Bands of RNA at 3.5, 2.7, and 2.5 kb were detected at 12 hr, just before single-stranded viral DNA was detected. A prominent increase in the amount of viral RNA was demonstrated (between 12 hr and 3 days) prior to the increase of DHBV DNA (between 3 and 6 days). Our results suggest that 3.5-kb DHBV-specific RNA synthesized from supercoiled DNA may act as a template of reverse transcription, and that all steps of the replication pathway proposed by Summers and Mason (1982, Cell, 29, 403-415) are completed during 3 days.
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000032:analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004372:Ducks; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D006524:Hepatitis, Viral, Animal / Q000235:genetics*; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011061:Poly A / Q000032:analysis; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011061:Poly A; D012313:RNA