Murine coronavirus packaging signal confers packaging to nonviral RNA.
Studies of defective interfering (DI) RNAs of the murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) suggest that a 69-nucleotide-long packaging signal is necessary for MHV genomic RNA packaging into MHV particles. In this study we showed that when RNA transcripts that consisted of a non-MHV sequence and the packaging signal were expressed in MHV-infected cells, they were packaged into MHV particles. Those RNA transcripts that lacked the packaging signal or those containing a mutated packaging signal did not package efficiently. Thus, the presence of the packaging signal was sufficient for RNA packaging into MHV particles.
Woo
K
K
Department of Microbiology, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712-1095, USA.
Joo
M
M
Narayanan
K
K
Kim
K H
KH
Makino
S
S
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D006517:Murine hepatitis virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D012259:Ribonuclease, Pancreatic / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014771:Virion / Q000378:metabolism; D019065:Virus Assembly / Q000502:physiology*
D012313:RNA; D012259:Ribonuclease, Pancreatic