Production of Viral mRNA in Adenovirus-Transformed Cells by the Post-Transcriptional Processing of Heterogeneous Nuclear RNA Containing Viral and Cell Sequences

Adenovirus 2-transformed cells contain virus-specific sequences which are covalently linked to cell-specific RNA sequences in heterogeneous nuclear RNA (HnRNA) molecules larger than 45S. Virus sequences are identified by hybridization to viral DNA, and the cell sequences are detected by hybridization to cellular DNA under conditions where hybridization only occurs to reiterated sites in cell DNA. Such large composite viral-cell HnRNA molecules presumably arise through the uninterrupted transcription of host sequences and integrated viral DNA. Adenovirus-specific polysomal RNA from these cells sediments as three discrete species at 16, 20, and 26S. These specific classes of viral mRNA do not contain rapidly hybridizing host-specific RNA sequences. Both virus-specific HnRNA and mRNA contain polyadenylic acid sequences since they bind to polyU columns at levels characteristics of other polyA-terminated HnRNA and mRNA. Thus, the discrete species of virus-specific mRNA in adenovirus 2 transformed cells appear to be derived from high-molecular-weight virus-specific HnRNA through a series of post-transcriptional modifications involving polyA addition. Subsequently the HnRNA is cleaved so that the cell-specific RNA sequences that originate from the reiterated sites in cell DNA do not accompany the adenovirus mRNA to the cytoplasm. These events for the adenovirus-specific mRNA appear, therefore, to be similar to the stages in the biogenesis of the majority of mRNA in eukaryotic cells.