New procedure for the production of influenza virus-specific double-stranded DNA's

A novel technique is described for the production of pure, full-length influenza virus ds DNA's corresponding to each segment of the influenza virus genome, and suitable for molecular cloning and restriction endonuclease mapping. The method involves the synthesis of DNA complementary to both virion (negative strand) and messenger (positive strand) RNA, gel purification and annealing. By avoiding the use of SI nuclease, which often removes the terminal regions of DNA duplexes, the method allows transcription of the total sequence information of influenza virion and messenger RNA's into a ds DNA form.