Translation arrest of potato virus X RNA in Krebs-2 cell-free system: RNase H cleavage promoted by complementary oligodeoxynucleotides.

Translation arrest of genomic potato virus X (PVX) RNA promoted by complementary oligodeoxynucleotides in Krebs-2 cell-free system is described. 14-15 mer oligodeoxynucleotides complementary to the 5'-proximal cistron of PVX RNA were shown to induce specific truncation of the major non-structural polypeptide coded by PVX RNA. Evidence is presented that effective translational arrest of PVX RNA in the presence of complementary oligonucleotides results from the site-specific cleavage of RNA by endogenous RNase H intrinsic to the Krebs-2 extract. No similar translational arrest was found in the rabbit reticulocyte lysate cell-free system.