Cloning and sequencing of influenza C/Yamagata/1/88 virus NS gene

It was previously shown that the shortest RNA of influenza C/California/78 virus contains 934 nucleotides and codes for two nonstructural proteins of 286 amino acids (NS 1) and 121 amino acids (NS 2). In this report, we determined the nucleotide sequence of the NS gene of the recently isolated influenza C/Yamagata/1/88 strain by using cloned cDNA derived from the viral RNA. Compared with the NS gene of C/California/78, one nucleotide insertion has occurred in the NS gene of C/Yamagata/1/88. This caused frame shifts of both the NS 1 and NS 2 reading frames, directing the synthesis of the NS 1 and NS 2 proteins consisting of 246 and 182 amino acids, respectively.