Defective interfering passages of Sindbis virus: nature of the defective virion RNA.

Defective interfering particles of Sindbis virus contain 20S RNA identical to that found in BHK cells co-infected with standard and defective virions. We have characterized these RNAs by their oligonucleotide fingerprints. Most of the oligonucleotides were identical to those found in the mRNA (26S RNA) that codes for the virion structural proteins. Three oligonucleotides found in 20S RNA were absent from the 26S RNA pattern and may represent sequences from the 5' end of the virion RNA. Previous difficulties in describing the nature of the defective virion RNA were due to the aggregated state of the RNA. Nucleocapsids obtained from standard and defective virions were essentially the same size and had about the same density, suggesting that defective particles contain more than a single molecule of 20S RNA.