STRAIN-VARIABLE EDITING DURING TRANSCRIPTION OF THE P-GENE OF MUMPS-VIRUS MAY LEAD TO THE GENERATION OF NONSTRUCTURAL PROTEINS NS1 (V) AND NS2

The sequence of the P (phosphoprotein) gene of mumps virus has been determined. It has two open reading frames, the first of which probably encodes the NS1 (or V) protein of mumps virus. Expression of the P protein requires the insertion of two non-templated residues to link the two ORFs in a process analogous to that observed in the P/V gene of simian virus type 5 to which mumps virus is closely related. Strain differences in the accuracy of insertion of non-templated G residues in the P/V gene transcripts have been described.