In vitro synthesis of the nonstructural C protein of Sendai virus

In vitro translation was used to study the mRNA for the Sendai virus nonstructural C protein. The C protein mRNA was found to be coordinately expressed with the mRNAs for the structural proteins. However, the C protein mRNA appeared to be translated more efficiently in vitro than the other mRNAs. In addition, the 22,000-dalton C protein mRNA cosedimented on sucrose gradients with the 79,000-dalton P protein mRNA. The C protein mRNA thus appears to be much larger than expected.