Analysis of alfalfa mosaic virus 17 S RNA translational products

In a previous paper, the problem has been raised whether or not the coat protein gene of alfalfa mosaic virus, although present on the 17 S RNA, is translated in a cell-free system derived from Krebs-II ascites cells. The translation products of 17 S RNA have been separated by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels and the tryptic peptides analyzed by fingerprinting. The results show that the only in vitro translation product of 17 S RNA consists of a 35,000 MW polypeptide quite different from the coat protein, which consequently is not translated. This suggests that, in contrast to the other AMV RNA's the 17 S is only partially translated.