title: Nonrandom dimerization of murine leukemia virus genomic RNAs.
abstract: Retroviral genomes consist of two unspliced RNAs linked noncovalently in a dimer. Although these two RNAs are generally identical, two different RNAs can be copackaged when virions are produced by coinfected cells. It has been assumed, but not tested, that copackaging results from random RNA associations in the cytoplasm to yield encapsidated RNA homodimers and heterodimers in Hardy-Weinberg proportions. Here, virion RNA homo- and heterodimerization were examined for Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV) using nondenaturing Northern blotting and a novel RNA dimer capture assay. The results demonstrated that coexpressed MLV RNAs preferentially self-associated, even when RNAs were identical in known packaging and dimerization sequences or when they differed overall by less than 0.1%. In contrast, HIV-1 RNAs formed homo- and heterodimers in random proportions. We speculate that these species-specific differences in RNA dimer partner selection may at least partially explain the higher frequency of genetic recombination observed for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 than for MLV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 1150 W. Medical Center Drive, Room 5641, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0620, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.forename: Wenfeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Telesnitsky
mesh_terms: D019281:Dimerization; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus / Q000235:genetics*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*; D019065:Virus Assembly; D016662:Virus Integration
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral