CONSERVATIVE REPLICATION AND TRANSCRIPTION OF SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE VIRAL DOUBLE-STRANDED-RNA INVITRO

All double-stranded RNA viruses have capsid-associated RNA polymerase activities. In the reoviruses, the transcriptase synthesizes the viral plus strand in a conservative mode and the replicase synthesizes the viral minus strand, again conservatively. In bacteriophage .vphi.6 and in some fungal viruses, the transcriptase activity viral RNA replication in vitro for the first time and, using more sensitive techniques than those previously used, show that both the transcriptase and the replicase appear to act conservatively, like those of reovirus. There is therefore clearly no universal life cycle for the double-stranded RNA viruses.