Electron Microscope Measurements of Rous Sarcoma Virus RNA (original) (raw)

1. H. Delius,
2. P. H. Duesberg*, and
3. W. F. Mangel†
4. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 11724
5. *Department of Molecular Biology and Virus Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
6. The Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, England

Excerpt

The structure and molecular weight of tumor virus RNA have been difficult to study experimentally. The molecular weight is thought to range between a minimum of 3 × 106 daltons and a maximum of 12 × 106 daltons (Robinson et al. 1965; Granboulan et al. 1966; Duesberg 1970; Kakefuda and Bader 1969; Sarkar and Moore 1970; Vogt 1973; Duesberg et al. 1973; Duesberg and Vogt 1973a; Bishop et al. 1973; Tooze 1973). This uncertainty is due mainly to the complex structure of the viral RNA (Duesberg 1970) and to the difficulty of determining the exact content of RNA in purified virions (Tooze 1973). Extraction of the nucleic acid from virions followed by sedimentation reveals a major RNA species with a sedimentation coefficient of 60–70S. When this RNA is placed in an environment wherein its secondary structure should be destroyed, the sedimentation coefficient decreases to 30–40S and, at the same time,...