Complete Nucleotide Sequence of the Simian‐Virus 40 Hind‐G Fragment and Localisation of the Carboxyl Terminus of the VP1 Protein

Abstract

The restriction fragment Hind-G represents 7.0% of the simian virus 40 (SV40) genome. The information present in fragment Hind-G is expressed as part of the major, late 16-S messenger RNA. The complete nucleotide sequence of the fragment Hind-G has now been determined by application of the procedure of Maxam and Gilbert [Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1977) 74, 560-564]. It contains 369 nucleotide base pairs. On the basis of the termination code words in the strand with the same polarity as the late mRNA, two illegitimate reading frames can be defined. Therefore the third, open frame must code for the carboxyl terminal part of the VP1 protein. It terminates within fragment Hind-G with a TGA signal. This stop codon is followed by a non-translated region of the mRNA of about 83 nucleotides. The latter contains the sequence A-A-U-A-A-A, common to all other eukaryotic mRNA molecules so far studied. The Hind-G fragment also contains sequences which presumably play a role in the synthesis, processing and/or expression of early mRNA; these aspects are discussed in the following paper.