Analysis of the in vitro secondary structure of cucumber mosaic virus satellite RNA

The solution conformation of two variants of cucumber mosaic virus satellite RNA (CMV satRNA) was analyzed using several enzymatic and chemical probes. Ribonuclease T1 and nuclease S1 were used to map unpaired nucleotides, and nuclease V1 was used to detect double-stranded, or stacked, bases. Chemical probing with dimethylsulphate and diethylpyrocarbonate also identified unpaired and unstacked nucleotides, respectively. Modified or cleaved positions were identified by direct gel electrophoresis of radioactively labeled RNA, or by analysis of DNA sequence patterns generated by primer-extension with reverse transcriptase. Additional information was obtained by a gel-fractionation method under nondenaturing conditions for the identification of base paired fragments. On these data, a model for the in vitro secondary structure of CMV satRNA is proposed. Results support the existence of a complex structure with 51% of nucleotides involved in base pairs (40 G:C, 28 G:U, and 18 A:U pairs). Several structural elements, numbered I-VI, were defined, and interactions between separate domains are suggested. Comparisons of experimental data and a formerly reported secondary structure model for CMV satRNA support the validity of the structure we propose.