Structure and function of bicistronic RNA encoding the phosphoprotein and matrix protein of measles virus.

Two independent full-length replicas of a bicistronic RNA species containing the complete P and M genes of measles virus arranged in tandem were isolated from an expressible cDNA library. Sequences at the 5' and 3' termini suggested that the bicistronic RNA was initiated and terminated at precisely the same locations as the monocistronic mRNAs of the P and M genes, respectively. The P and M cistrons were fused together via an intergenic region which was exactly colinear with and complementary to the intergenic region of the genomic RNA. This RNA species was polyadenylated at the normal polyadenylation site at the 3' terminus of the M cistron, but not in the intergenic region. By DNA-mediated gene transfer, these cDNA clones were expressed into bicistronic RNA containing both P and M sequences in primate cells. RNA thus generated did not undergo nucleolytic processing but was translated into high levels of a 70,000-Mr protein immunoprecipitated by monoclonal antiserum against the measles virus P protein. M protein was not produced in the same cells even though the M cistron could direct M protein synthesis in vitro once excised from the upstream P cistron. These results suggested that bicistronic RNA could direct protein synthesis from the first but not the second cistron and might contribute at least in part to expression of viral genes in vivo.