Replication of foot-and-mouth disease virus ribonucleic acid.

Abstract

SUMMARY The effect of heat and formaldehyde on the sedimentation properties of virus RNA and the RNA induced in baby hamster kidney cells by infection with foot-and-mouth disease virus has been studied. The sedimentation rate of the induced 37s RNA was reduced considerably by treating with 6% formaldehyde in 0·01 m-EDTA at 37° but it still sedimented faster than the 35s RNA extracted from purified virus which had been treated similarly. Part of the interjacent RNA sedimented at the same rate as the 35s virus RNA after similar treatment. The sedimentation rate of the 16s ribonuclease-resistant RNA was unaffected. After treating with formaldehyde at 70°, part of the ribonuclease-resistant RNA sedimented faster than virus RNA which had received similar treatment. These results show that the greater rate of sedimentation of the 37s RNA is caused by the larger size of the induced RNA compared with the 35 s virus RNA and suggest that the more rapid sedimentation of the ribonuclease-resistant RNA after denaturing at 70° may be due to its existence as a circular molecule.