Document 0222
 DOCN  M9460222
 TI    The multimerization state of retroviral RNA is modulated by ammonium
       ions and affects HIV-1 full-length cDNA synthesis in vitro.
 DT    9408
 AU    Weiss S; Hausl G; Famulok M; Konig B; Institut fur Biochemie,
       Universitat Munchen, Germany.
 SO    Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Oct 25;21(21):4879-85. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/94232812
 AB    Genomic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA fragments
       containing the dimer linkage structure (DLS) can be dimerized and
       multimerized in the presence of NH4+ and in the absence of any other
       cation and any viral or cellular protein. This effect strongly supports
       the notion that dimerization and multimerization of genomic RNA occurs
       via purine-quartet formation in quadruple helical RNA structures. The
       efficiency of RNA dimerization and multimerization in the presence of
       ammonium ions is about 400 fold increased as compared to alkali metal
       ions such as potassium. Dimerized retroviral RNA representing a
       pseudodiploid genome could account for genetic recombination within the
       virion and during reverse transcription. Application of a novel
       South-Northern-Blotting procedure with biotinylated RNA and
       digoxigenin-labelled cDNA in vitro reveals that efficient human- and
       bovine tRNA(Lys3) primed full-length cDNA-synthesis only takes place
       with a predominantly monomerized RNA template. Dimerization and
       multimerization of the RNA significantly reduces full-length
       cDNA-synthesis. This suggests that monomerization of the dimerized RNA,
       effected by deionization in vitro, is essential for efficient retroviral
       reverse transcription in vivo.
 DE    Acetates/CHEMISTRY  Ammonium Compounds/*CHEMISTRY  Biopolymers/CHEMISTRY
       Biotin  Blotting, Northern/METHODS  Blotting, Southern/METHODS
       Digoxigenin  DNA, Viral/*BIOSYNTHESIS/CHEMISTRY  HIV Long Terminal
       Repeat  HIV-1/*GENETICS  Ions  Retroviridae/*GENETICS  RNA,
       Viral/*CHEMISTRY  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).