Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1986 Jan;57(1):219-28.
doi: 10.1128/JVI.57.1.219-228.1986.

Direct method for quantitation of extreme polymerase error frequencies at selected single base sites in viral RNA

D A Steinhauer, J J Holland

Direct method for quantitation of extreme polymerase error frequencies at selected single base sites in viral RNA

D A Steinhauer et al. J Virol. 1986 Jan.

Abstract

Methods are described which allow direct quantitation and sequence analysis of base substitution levels at predetermined single nucleotide positions in cloned pools of an RNA virus genome or in its RNA transcripts in vitro. Base substitution frequencies for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) at one highly conserved site examined were reproducible and extremely high, averaging between 10(-4) and 4 X 10(-4) substitutions per base incorporated at this single site. If polymerase error frequencies averaged as high at all other sites in the 11-kilobase VSV genome, then every member of a cloned VSV population would differ from most other genomes in that clone at a number of different nucleotide positions. The preservation of a consensus sequence in such variable RNA virus genomes then could only result from strong biological selection (in a single host or multihost environment) for the most fit and competitive representatives of extremely heterogeneous virus populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Science. 1982 Mar 26;215(4540):1577-85 - PubMed
    1. Virology. 1983 Jul 30;128(2):310-8 - PubMed
    1. J Virol. 1984 Mar;49(3):793-8 - PubMed
    1. Virology. 1978 Sep;89(2):632-6 - PubMed
    1. Virology. 1984 Apr 30;134(2):375-88 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources