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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes: A Functional Genomics Tool for the Study of Positive-strand RNA Viruses
Published on: December 29, 2015
Incorporation of influenza A virus genome segments does not absolutely require wild-type sequences
Ken Fujii1,2, Makoto Ozawa3,1,2, Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto1,2
1Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama 332-0012, Japan.
Abstract:
The efficient incorporation of influenza virus genome segments into virions is mediated by cis-acting regions at both ends of the viral RNAs. It was shown previously that nt 16-26 at the 3' end of the non-structural (NS) viral RNA of influenza A virus are important for efficient virion incorporation and that nt 27-56 also contribute to this process. To understand further the signalling requirements for genome packaging, this study performed linker-scanning mutagenesis in the latter region and found that nt 27-35 made an appreciable contribution to the efficient incorporation of the NS segment. An NS vRNA library was then generated composed of an RNA population with randomized nucleotides at positions 16-35 such that the virus could select the sequences it required for virion incorporation. The sequences selected differed from the wild-type sequence and no conserved nucleotides were selected. The ability of non-wild-type sequences to function in this manner indicates that the incorporation of influenza A virus genome segments does not absolutely require specific sequences.
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