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RNA-directed DNA synthesis by the DNA polymerase of Rous sarcoma virus: structural and functional identification of 4S primer RNA in uninfected cells.

The RNA-directed DNA polymerase of Rous sarcoma virus requires a 4S RNA molecule as primer for the initiation of DNA synthesis on the viral 70S RNA genome. We have now functionally identified primer activity in uninfected cells on the basis of the capacity of cellular 4S RNA to actively participate in the initiation of DNA synthesis by the RNA-directed DNA polymerase of Rous sarcoma virus in vitro. This was accomplished by reconstitution experiments in which 4S RNA from uninfected avian cells was tested for its ability to restore template activity to the viral RNA genome from which all primer had been removed. Similar reconstitution experiments were employed to demonstrate a primer activity in the 4S RNA population of duck, mouse, and human cells. Primer activity appears to be absent in lower eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells. Unambiguous identification of the Rous sarcoma virus primer molecule in uninfected cells was accomplished by directly purifying a 4S RNA molecule from the bulk of host cell transfer RNA and establishing structural similarities between this cellular 4S RNA species and the Rous sarcoma virus primer by two-dimensional paper electrophoresis of oligonucleotides obtained from a T1 ribonuclease digest of the RNA species. We conclude that the Rous sarcoma virus DNA polymerase can utilize a host cell molecule as primer for the initiation of RNA-directed DNA synthesis in vitro.