Rous sarcoma virus nucleic acid-binding protein p12 is necessary for viral 70S RNA dimer formation and packaging

To study the function(s) of the Rous sarcoma virus nucleic acid-binding protein p12, we constructed mutants by using two restriction sites in the p12 proviral coding sequence of the Prague C strain to insert KpnI synthetic linkers. The two restriction sites are in the same reading frame, which allowed us to construct a deletion mutant lacking the two conserved Cys-His regions and a duplication mutant containing three intact Cys-His boxes. These mutant DNAs were transfected into chicken embryo fibroblasts, and the viral particles produced in a transient assay were characterized biochemically and for infectivity. Our results indicate that the Rous sarcoma virus nucleic acid-binding protein p12 is necessary for genomic RNA packaging but not for particle assembly and is implicated in the formation of a stable 70S dimeric RNA. Moreover, the fact that one mutant was apparently able to package normal 70S RNA but was not infectious suggests a role for p12 during the infection process.