[Regulatory region of the MS2 phage RNA replicase cistron. Accesibility of MS2 RNA specific fragment to T1 RNAse digestion and chemical modification with kethoxal]. / Reguliatornyi uchastok tsistrona replikazy RNK faga MS2. Dostupnost' Spetsificheskogo fragmenta RNK faga MS2 deistviiu RNKazy T1 i khimicheskoi.

Partial digestion with T1 RNAase and chemical modification with kethoxal were used to study stability of two hairpin in the proposed secondary structure of the functionally active MS2 RNA fragment MS2 R(--53 leads to 6), containing the regulatory region of the phage replicase cistron. Analysis of the products obtained after the above treatments showed that T1 RNAase and kethoxal attacked predominantly the guanosine residues in the hairpin b of the MS2 R(--53 leads to 6). This implies that in contrast to the structurally stable hairpin a of the polynucleotide, hairpin b appears to be more labile and may exist under the present experimental conditions in equilibrium with its open form. The data of the competition experiments demonstrated that the kethoxal modified MS2 R(-53 leads to 6) and shorter polynucleotide MS2 R(-53 leads to-11) obtained from MS2 R(-53 leads to 6) after T1 RNAase digestion failed to bind with MS2 coat protein. The relatively unstable hairpin b region in the polynucleotide MS2 R(-53 leads to 6) is suggested to play essential role in the complex formation.

[Defective bacteriophage MS2 particles containing specific RNA FRAGMENTS]. / Defektnye chastitsy bakter-ofaga MS2, soderzhashchis spetsificheskie fragmenty RNK

Two types of MS2 particle are revealed when phage lysates are banded in CsCl density gradient. The lower band contain normal phage particles with a density of 1.46 g/cm3. The upper band with a density of 1.44 g/cm3 containes uninfective incomplete MS2 particles. Both phage types reveal no abnormalities in the content of the coat protein and A-protein. They are nearly identical in RNA content. RNA in the normal buoyant density phage particles is native. RNA in the defective particles consists of three specific fragments with molecular weights 6.5-10(5), 5.5-10(5) and 4.4-10(5) and molar ratios 5:4:9 respectively. THE 5'-TERMINAL ANALYSIS OF RNA from defective MS2 particles reveals the presence of native pppGp. THE 3'-TERMINAL ANALYSIS OF THE INDIVIDUAL RNA fragments reveals the presence of adenosine only in the shortest fragment. RNA fragmentation in defective particles can be explained by the action of intracellular RNAses on the unprotected regions on RNA chain in structurally incomplete virions.

[MS2 RNA hydrolysis by snake venom phosphodiesterase and template properties of RNA produced by limited exonucleolytic action]. / Gidroliz RNK faga Ms2 fosfodiesterazoi zmennogo iada i matrichnye svoistva RNK-produkta ogranichennogo ekzonukleoliticheskogo deistviia

The action of snake venom phosphodiesterase on bacteriophage MS2 RNA under conditions of limited hydrolysis has been studied. The content of 5'-mononucleotides released during hydrolysis does not correspond to the calculated one based on the 3'-terminal nucleotide sequence of MS2 RNA. This finding suggests the occurrence of endonucleolytic splits in MS2 RNA with concomitant exonucleolytic digestion of some newly formed fragments. A high molecular weight RNA fraction, comprising unfragmented MS2 RNA with about 5-63'-terminal nucleotides removed is separated by sucrose gradient centrifugation and shown not to differ from the native MS2 RNA in its template function in a cell-free protein synthesizing system. It is demonstrated that template activity, polarity of translation, and nascent peptide chain termination on the MS2 replicase cistron are not affected by the removal of 3'terminal nucleotides of MS2 RNA. Consequently, these nucleotides are unessential in translation of native MS2 RNA.

[Regulatory region of fr phage replicase cistron. II. Isolation and structure of specific fr RNA fragments]. / Reguliatornyi uchastok tsistrona replikazy faga fr. II. Vydelenie i struktura spetsificheskikh fragmentov RNK fr.

A new set of short RNA templates has been prepared for functional studies in initiation of translation in vitro. Number of individual RNA fragments which contain complete or part of the initiatory region of phage fr replicase cistron were isolated from complex fr RNA--fr coat protein. Their primary structure were determined by using standard fingerprint technique and rapid gel sequencing. Secondary structure of several RNA fragments and their binding activity with phage fr and MS2 coat proteins has been also studied.

[Primary structure of a fragment of cDNA from phage fr]. / Pervichnaia struktura fragmenta kDNK faga fr.

The nucleotide sequence of a 1392 bp fragment of phage fr cDNA has been determined. The fragment contains 3'-terminal part of the A-protein gene, the complete coat protein gene, and beginning of the replicase gene. A comparison between the sequences of the corresponding genes and regulatory regions from the phage fr and MS2 genomes reveals 320 base changes.