Presence of Genomic Polyadenylate and Absence of Detectable Virion Transcriptase in Human Coronavirus OC-43

Abstract

Human coronavirus RNA, prepared by extraction of purified virions with phenol-chloroform, consists of a major 15-55S class and a minor 4S class of RNA fragments. Poly (A) sequences are present in 15-55S but not in 4S RNA, suggesting different functions for each class. A stretch of poly (A) of approximately 19 AMP residues was obtained in sizing experiments after digesting OC-43 RNA with pancreatic and T1 RNase. An OC-43 virion RNA transcriptase could not be detected with systems optimal for detecting the transcriptases of influenza and Newcastle disease virus.