Initiation of DNA plus-strand synthesis in most reverse-transcribing elements requires primer generation by reverse transcriptase-associated RNase H at one or more template polypurine tracts (PPTs). We have exploited infectious clones of the plant pararetrovirus cauliflower mosaic virus carrying redundant ectopic plus-strand priming elements to study priming in vivo. Ectopic priming generated an additional discontinuity in progeny virion DNA during infection of plants. We found that altering the length of the 13-base pair PPT by ؎25% significantly reduced priming efficiency. A short pyrimidine tract 5 to the PPT, highly conserved among diverse reverse-transcribing elements, was shown to play an important role in PPT recognition in vivo. The predominant DNA plus-strand 5 end remained 3 nucleotides from the PPT 3 end in mutant primers that were longer or shorter than the wild-type primer. Use of an ectopic redundant primer to study replication-dependent priming was validated by demonstrating that it could rescue infectivity following destruction of the wild-type priming elements. We propose a model for plant pararetroviral plus-strand priming in which pyrimidines enhance PPT recognition during polymerasedependent RNase H cleavages, and suggest that fidelity of primer maturation during polymerase-independent cleavages involves PPT length measurement and 3 end recognition by RNase H.
Retro-elements (REs),1 the propagation of which involves copying genomic RNA into DNA mediated by reverse transcriptase (RT), are found in organisms representing the major groups of eukaryotes. REs include animal retroviruses, animal and plant pararetroviruses, and retrotransposable elements (1). Although REs are diverse, most share several common features. Important among these is the pol gene product specifying multiple enzyme activities associated with reverse transcriptase (RT) involved in RE DNA synthesis and processing (2, 3).REs have a different origin of replication for synthesis of each strand of the double-stranded (ds)DNA phase. First, reverse transcription of the genomic RNA into minus-strand DNA is initiated in most REs by a host tRNA (4). During minus-strand synthesis, RT-associated RNase H activity degrades the RNA template (5,6). This degradation appears to occur in at least two stages. Processive DNA minus-strand synthesis is accompanied by a polymerase-dependent, non-processive RNase H degradation of the template leaving RNA fragments. These fragments are probably further degraded by subsequent polymerase-independent RNase H cleavages (7-9). The RNA primer for DNA plus-strand synthesis is generated during these steps by RNase H cleavage at a specific site called the polypurine tract (PPT), 13-18 nucleotides long. For REs producing an integrating linear double-stranded DNA with long terminal repeats (LTRs), precision of plus-strand initiation is essential for RE viability as one LTR border is defined by this step. Therefore, understanding the role of the PPT is important, particularly in retroviruses where plus-strand i...