title: A role for two hairpin structures as a core RNA encapsidation signal in murine leukemia virus virions.
abstract: Four putative hairpin structures (hairpins A to D) are involved in the specific encapsidation of Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) RNA into M-MuLV virus particles. The C and D elements, encompassing M-MuLV viral nucleotides 310 to 374, facilitate encapsidation of heterologous RNA into virions. Thus, these two elements appear to act as a core RNA encapsidation signal. The loop sequences of the putative C and D hairpins are identical (GACG). However, when GACG loops were introduced into RNAs on heterologous stem sequences, they increased encapsidation levels only three- to fourfold. These results suggest that C and D stem-and-loop sequences contribute to the M-MuLV cis-acting site for encapsidation.
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201-3098, USA. mougel@igm.cnrs-mop.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mougel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barklis
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002213:Capsid / Q000378:metabolism*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012326:RNA Splicing; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection; D014771:Virion / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral