The Nucleotide Sequence Complexity of Avian Tumor Virus RNA

Abstract
The nucleotide sequence complexity of 60-70S RNA of Rous sarcoma virus was determined from the molar yields of 11 pure oligonucleotides of known chain length, obtained from [32P]RNA of Rous sarcoma virus by T1 RNase digestion and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We calculate an apparent chain length of about 9800 nucleotides, corresponding to a molecular weight of 3.4 × 106. Assuming the molecular weight of 60-70S RNA of Rous sarcoma virus to be about 107, our data suggest that the virus genome consists of identical, or very similar, nucleotide sequences repeated three to four times.