Genome-length copies of poliovirion RNA are synthesized in vitro by the poliovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.

A soluble RNA-dependent RNA polymerase was purified from the cytoplasm of poliovirus-infected HeLa cells. A single virus-specific protein designated as p63 (or NCVP4) copurified with this activity. The purified polymerase was free of ribonuclease activity and was shown to copy poliovirion RNA when oligo(U) was added to the in vitro reaction mixture. Characterization of the product RNA by electrophoresis in methylmercury (II) hydroxide-agarose gels showed that genome-sized copies of poliovirion RNA were synthesized in vitro by the purified polymerase. The product RNA was shown to be heteropolymeric, complementary to virion RNA, and covalently linked to oligo(U). The product RNA contained the expected distribution of UMP and GMP containing dinucleotide pairs which included a very low frequency of CpG pairs. The amount, size distribution, and rate of synthesis of product RNA was very dependent on the in vitro reaction conditions. Full sized product RNA was synthesized in about 6 min when reaction conditions were used that yielded maximum elongation rates (pH 8.0, 7 mM Mg2+, 37 degrees C). Under these conditions, most of the product RNA recovered from a 1-h reaction was full sized. Thus, the polymerase was found to specifically initiate synthesis at the 3'-end of the template using an oligo(U) primer and to carry out an elongation reaction at about 1250 nucleotides/min that resulted in the synthesis of full sized product RNA.