[Polyadenylation of influenza virion RNA in an in vitro system]

A method for isolation of terminal polyriboadenylate transferase from E. coli cells (MPE 600) is presented. The specific activity of the enzyme yield at the terminal stage was 933 units per 1 mg of protein. Analysis of polyadenylated in vitro virion RNA of influenza virus A/USSR/90/17 strain in polyacrylamideagarose gel (2.2%-0.6%) in the presence of 6 M urea showed all the 8 fragments of genome RNA to be adenylated, their sizes being retained with regard to the distribution in gel of the initial RNA fragments. In vitro polyadenylated virion RNA was an effective matrix in reverse transcription reaction with RNA-dependent DNA-polymerase using oligo (dT) as a primer. Complementary DNAs obtained in this way may be the starting material for synthesis of double-stranded DNAs and subsequent construction of recombinant DNAs containing influenza virus genetic information.