Skip to main content
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1982 Apr;42(1):186–193. doi: 10.1128/jvi.42.1.186-193.1982

Influenza B virus genome: sequences and structural organization of RNA segment 8 and the mRNAs coding for the NS1 and NS2 proteins.

D J Briedis, R A Lamb
PMCID: PMC256059  PMID: 6283137

Abstract

Double-stranded DNA derived from influenza B virus genome RNA segment 8, which codes for the NS1 and NS2 proteins, was constructed by hybridization of full-length cDNA copies of RNA segment 8 and of the NS1 mRNA. This DNA was cloned in plasmid pBR322 and sequenced. The NS1 mRNA (approximately 1,080 viral nucleotides) contains nonviral nucleotides at its 5' end and is capable of coding for a protein of 281 amino acids. Sequencing of the NS2 mRNA has shown that it contains an interrupted sequence of 655 nucleotides and is most likely synthesized by a splicing mechanism. The first approximately 75 virus-specific nucleotides at the 5' end of the NS2 mRNA are the same as are found at the 5' -end of the NS1 mRNA. This region contains the initiation codon for protein synthesis and coding information for 10 amino acids common to the two proteins. The approximately 350-nucleotide body region of the NS2 mRNA can be translated in the +1 reading frame, and the sequence indicates that the NS1 and NS2 protein-coding regions overlap by 52 amino acids translated from different reading frames. Thus, between the influenza A and B viruses, the organization of the NS1 and NS2 mRNAs and the sizes of the NS2 mRNA and protein are conserved despite the larger size of the influenza B virus RNA segment, NS1 mRNA, and NS1 protein.

Full text

PDF
190

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Air G. M., Hackett J. A. Gene 8 of influenza virus: sequences of cDNA transcribed from the 3' ends of viral RNA of influenza A and B strains. Virology. 1980 Jun;103(2):291–298. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(80)90188-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Almond J. W., Haymerle H. A., Felsenreich V. D., Reeve P. The structural and infected cell polypeptides of influenza B virus. J Gen Virol. 1979 Dec;45(3):611–621. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-45-3-611. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Baez M., Taussig R., Zazra J. J., Young J. F., Palese P., Reisfeld A., Skalka A. M. Complete nucleotide sequence of the influenza A/PR/8/34 virus NS gene and comparison with the NS genes of the A/Udorn/72 and A/FPV/Rostock/34 strains. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Dec 11;8(23):5845–5858. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.23.5845. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Baez M., Zazra J. J., Elliott R. M., Young J. F., Palese P. Nucleotide sequence of the influenza A/duck/Alberta/60/76 virus NS RNA: conservation of the NS1/NS2 overlapping gene structure in a divergent influenza virus RNA segment. Virology. 1981 Aug;113(1):397–402. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(81)90166-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bouloy M., Plotch S. J., Krug R. M. Both the 7-methyl and the 2'-O-methyl groups in the cap of mRNA strongly influence its ability to act as primer for influenza virus RNA transcription. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jul;77(7):3952–3956. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.7.3952. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bouloy M., Plotch S. J., Krug R. M. Globin mRNAs are primers for the transcription of influenza viral RNA in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Oct;75(10):4886–4890. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.10.4886. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Briedis D. J., Lamb R. A., Choppin P. W. Influenza B virus RNA segment 8 codes for two nonstructural proteins. Virology. 1981 Jul 30;112(2):417–425. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(81)90289-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Caton A. J., Robertson J. S. New procedure for the production of influenza virus-specific double-stranded DNA's. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Nov 24;7(6):1445–1456. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.6.1445. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Caton A. J., Robertson J. S. Structure of the host-derived sequences present at the 5' ends of influenza virus mRNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Jun 25;8(12):2591–2603. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.12.2591. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Desselberger U., Racaniello V. R., Zazra J. J., Palese P. The 3' and 5'-terminal sequences of influenza A, B and C virus RNA segments are highly conserved and show partial inverted complementarity. Gene. 1980 Feb;8(3):315–328. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(80)90007-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dhar R., Chanock R. M., Lai C. J. Nonviral oligonucleotides at the 5' terminus of cytoplasmic influenza viral mRNA deduced from cloned complete genomic sequences. Cell. 1980 Sep;21(2):495–500. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90486-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Grunstein M., Hogness D. S. Colony hybridization: a method for the isolation of cloned DNAs that contain a specific gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Oct;72(10):3961–3965. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.10.3961. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Inglis S. C., Barrett T., Brown C. M., Almond J. W. The smallest genome RNA segment of influenza virus contains two genes that may overlap. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Aug;76(8):3790–3794. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.8.3790. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Krug R. M., Broni B. A., Bouloy M. Are the 5' ends of influenza viral mRNAs synthesized in vivo donated by host mRNAs? Cell. 1979 Oct;18(2):329–334. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90052-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lai C. J., Markoff L. J., Zimmerman S., Cohen B., Berndt J. A., Chanock R. M. Cloning DNA sequences from influenza viral RNA segments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jan;77(1):210–214. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.1.210. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lamb R. A., Choppin P. W., Chanock R. M., Lai C. J. Mapping of the two overlapping genes for polypeptides NS1 and NS2 on RNA segment 8 of influenza virus genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Apr;77(4):1857–1861. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.4.1857. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Lamb R. A., Choppin P. W. Segment 8 of the influenza virus genome is unique in coding for two polypeptides. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Oct;76(10):4908–4912. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.10.4908. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lamb R. A., Lai C. J., Choppin P. W. Sequences of mRNAs derived from genome RNA segment 7 of influenza virus: colinear and interrupted mRNAs code for overlapping proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jul;78(7):4170–4174. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.7.4170. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Lamb R. A., Lai C. J. Sequence of interrupted and uninterrupted mRNAs and cloned DNA coding for the two overlapping nonstructural proteins of influenza virus. Cell. 1980 Sep;21(2):475–485. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90484-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lerner M. R., Boyle J. A., Mount S. M., Wolin S. L., Steitz J. A. Are snRNPs involved in splicing? Nature. 1980 Jan 10;283(5743):220–224. doi: 10.1038/283220a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. A new method for sequencing DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Feb;74(2):560–564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.2.560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Oxford J. S. Polypeptide composition of Influenza B viruses and enzymes associated with the purified virus particles. J Virol. 1973 Oct;12(4):827–835. doi: 10.1128/jvi.12.4.827-835.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Plotch S. J., Bouloy M., Ulmanen I., Krug R. M. A unique cap(m7GpppXm)-dependent influenza virion endonuclease cleaves capped RNAs to generate the primers that initiate viral RNA transcription. Cell. 1981 Mar;23(3):847–858. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90449-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Porter A. G., Smith J. C., Emtage J. S. Nucleotide sequence of influenza virus RNA segment 8 indicates that coding regions for NS1 and NS2 proteins overlap. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Sep;77(9):5074–5078. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.9.5074. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Racaniello V. R., Palese P. Influenza B virus genome: assignment of viral polypeptides to RNA segments. J Virol. 1979 Jan;29(1):361–373. doi: 10.1128/jvi.29.1.361-373.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Robertson H. D., Dickson E., Plotch S. J., Krug R. M. Identification of the RNA region transferred from a representative primer, beta-globin mRNA, to influenza mRNA during in vitro transcription. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Mar 11;8(5):925–942. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.5.925. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Robertson J. S., Schubert M., Lazzarini R. A. Polyadenylation sites for influenza virus mRNA. J Virol. 1981 Apr;38(1):157–163. doi: 10.1128/jvi.38.1.157-163.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Roychoudhury R., Wu R. Terminal transferase-catalyzed addition of nucleotides to the 3' termini of DNA. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):43–62. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65009-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Scholtissek C., Rohde W., Harms E. Genetic relationship between an influenza A and a B virus. J Gen Virol. 1977 Nov;37(2):243–247. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-37-2-243. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Sippel A. E. Purification and characterization of adenosine triphosphate: ribonucleic acid adenyltransferase from Escherichia coli. Eur J Biochem. 1973 Aug 1;37(1):31–40. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1973.tb02953.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Skehel J. J., Hay A. J. Nucleotide sequences at the 5' termini of influenza virus RNAs and their transcripts. Nucleic Acids Res. 1978 Apr;5(4):1207–1219. doi: 10.1093/nar/5.4.1207. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Ueda M., Tobita K., Sugiura A., Enomoto C. Identification of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of influenza B virus. J Virol. 1978 Feb;25(2):685–686. doi: 10.1128/jvi.25.2.685-686.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES