Isolation of the ends of La Crosse virus small RNA as a double-stranded structure

The genome of La Crosse virus, a member of the Bunyaviridae, is made up of three molecules. Circular nucleocapsid structures, in three size classes, have been isolated from La Crosse virus (Obijeski et al. J. Virol. 20:664-675, 1976). Recently, Obijeski et al. (Nucleic Acids Res. 8:2431-2438) have found that the 5' and 3' ends of each segment are complementary in sequence. We determined that a 5' and 3' end complementary structure, predicted by the rules of Tinoco et al. (Nature [London] 230:362-367), can and will anneal under certain conditions. This structure is resistant to RNase in high-salt medium and can be isolated in a reasonably high yield.