Complementary nuclear RNA's of murine sarcoma-leukemia virus complex in transformed cells

Abstract

The high molecular weight RNA (S(20,w) = 69S) of murine sarcomaleukemia virus (MSV-MLV) complex dissociated into 37S subunits when heated to 95 degrees C for 2 minutes. Specific annealing tests revealed that the viral RNA had complementarity with two heterogeneous RNA species from the nuclei of cells (78 A1) transformed by and chronically infected with this virus complex. The two nuclear RNA species that hybridized with the viral RNA had sedimentation constants ranging from 31-36S and 18-22S, respectively. There was no specific annealing between viral RNA and the cytoplasmic RNA of the 78 A1 cells. The detection of the complementary RNA strands of MSV-MLV suggests that this oncogenic virus complex may replicate in a fashion similar to that of the non-oncogenic RNA viruses, but may differ in that the complementary strands are found in the nucleus rather than in the cytoplasm of the transformed cells.