Characterization of influenza virus RNA transcripts synthesized in vitro.

Polyadenylated transcripts synthesized in vitro by detergent-disrupted influenza virus resemble virus mRNAs in that they possess the complement of the 3' terminus of the genome RNAs but lack sequences corresponding to the same 5' terminal region, including the homologous sequence of nucleotides 1 to 22. Transcription is initiated at the 3' terminus by both ApG and GpG as well as in the absence of added primer.