Minute virus of mice (MVM) mRNAs predominantly polyadenylate at a single site.

The polyadenylation sites for MVM(p) and MVM(i) mRNAs were determined by a quantitative hybridization-S1 protection assay. mRNAs produced by MVM(p) both early and late in infection of mouse A9 fibroblasts, and by MVM(p) and MVM(i) late in infection of human NB324K cells, polyadenylate predominantly at a single site, at nucleotide 4908 +/- 2 for MVM(p) and 4843 +/- 2 for MVM(i), shortly downstream of the final AATAAA in each viral genome. These results demonstrate that although the right-hand end of MVM has multiple AATAAA signals, and MVM(p) and MVM(i) vary significantly within this region, 3' end processing of viral mRNAs is not a prevalent mechanism for the regulation of MVM gene expression.