Analysis of the secondary and tertiary structures of Rous sarcoma virus RNA

The secondary and tertiary structures of the 35S RNA of Rous Sarcoma virus have been investigated. T1 RNase partial digests have been first resolved into their components by gel electrophoresis under non denaturing conditions and then each component analyzed further by various techniques. More than one hundred structured fragments have thus been isolated and shown to consist of several individual nucleotide sequences located far apart on the genome. On the basis of the results, a cloverleaf model for the structure of RSV 35S RNA is proposed that has implications for the various biological functions of this RNA.