Mapping the 5'-terminus of rice tungro bacilliform viral genomic RNA

The initiation site of the major transcript of rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV) has been located by mapping the 5' end of the RNA to nucleotides 7404 and 7405 of the RTBV genome using an RNase protection method. This was confirmed by the 5' RACE PCR procedure which mapped the 5' end of the RNA to nucleotide 7405. These results are consistent with data from our analysis of the strong-stop DNA of RTBV. A eukaryotic RNA polymerase II promoter sequence (TATATAA) was located at nucleotide 7373 of RTBV genome which is 31-32 nucleotides upstream from the proposed initiation site of the RTBV transcript.