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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Affinity Purification of Influenza Virus Ribonucleoprotein Complexes from the Chromatin of Infected Cells
Published on: June 3, 2012
Translational regulation of influenza virus mRNAs
K Yamanaka1, A Ishihama, K Nagata
1Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Shizuoka, Japan.
Abstract:
cDNAs for genome RNAs of influenza virus A/PR/8/34 were cloned, and portions containing the ATG for initiation codon of translation were inserted into the 5' leader sequence of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene in a pSV2cat vector. When transfected cells were super-infected with influenza virus, the CAT activity was found to vary in a time-dependent fashion: A construct containing a cDNA segment for the nonstructural (NS) protein directed the highest activity during the early stage of infection, while a construct containing a cDNA segment for the neuraminidase (NA) directed the highest activity during the late stage of infection. This time-dependent variation in the CAT activity is in good agreement with that of the synthesis rate of respective viral proteins in infected cells. We propose that the translational efficiency of viral mRNA is subjected to temporal control following viral infection, although viral protein synthesis itself is regulated primarily at the level of mRNA synthesis.
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