The primary sequence of a 5'-terminal fragment of poliovirus type 1 RNA reveals a stable hairpin structure beginning nine nucleotides from the terminally linked protein VPg.
The identification of a stable hairpin structure at the 5' end of poliovirus RNA suggests potential roles in ribosomal recognition, translation, or RNA synthesis.
The primary sequence of a 5'-terminal fragment of poliovirus type 1 RNA, generated by digestion with RNase III, has been determined. This sequence reveals the presence of a stable hairpin structure beginning nine nucleotides from the terminally linked protein VPg. The sequence does not contain (i) the initiation codons AUG or GUG or (ii) the putative ribosome-binding sequence complementary to the 3' end of eucaryotic ribosomal 18S RNA. The stem-and-loop structure identified can be drawn in either plus or minus RNA strands. It is unclear to which strand functional significance (if any) can be assigned. It is possible that the hairpin structure is involved in ribosomal recognition and translation or in RNA synthesis by interacting with replicase molecules.
Larsen et al. (1981) studied Poliovirus type 1 RNA. The primary sequence of a 5'-terminal fragment of poliovirus type 1 RNA reveals a stable hairpin structure beginning nine nucleotides from the terminally linked protein VPg.