Bluegill virus is a ribovirus of positive-strand polarity

Abstract

RNA was extracted from purified Bluegill virus (BGV) and fractionated onto a poly (U)-Sepharose-4 B column. More than 70 per cent of this RNA became bound and could be subsequently eluted from the column. By polynucleotide phosphorylase digestion, the poly (A) sequences were located at the 3'-terminus of the RNA. This RNA and purified BGV RNA were infectious as shown by plaque assay titration of the virus produced. Furthermore, we were unable to detect RNA polymerase activity in preparations of BGV. These results indicate that the genome in the BGV particle is a positive-strand RNA.