FIG. 8.
effect of the position of the GC base pair at stem I on the RdRp reaction. (A) Sequence identities of the mutant RNAs which were generated by shifting the GC base pair from the end to the inside of stem I. The nucleotides in boldface indicate the mutated sequences. Xmut RNA, as a control RNA template, was produced by reversing the GC base pair at the fifth position of the terminus of stem I. Xmut (1,46) RNA was generated from Xmut RNA by regenerating the GC base pair at the end of stem I; Xmut (2,45) RNA was generated from Xmut RNA by regenerating the GC base pair at the second position from the end of stem I; Xmut (3,44) RNA was generated from Xmut RNA by regenerating the GC base pair at the third position from the end of stem I; Xmut (4,43) RNA was generated from Xmut RNA by regenerating the GC base pair at the fourth position from the end of stem I. (B) RdRp reaction products using the mutant RNA templates which contain the GC base pair at different sites of stem I. The length of the marker RNA is indicated at the left of the gel. The monomer RNA produced by de novo synthesis is indicated by the arrow. Lane 1, internally labeled X RNA template; lane 2, RdRp product directed by X RNA; lanes 3 to 7, RdRp products of Xmut, Xmut (1,46), Xmut (2,45), Xmut (3,44), and Xmut (4,43) RNAs, respectively.