Polypeptide cleavages in the formation of poliovirus proteins

Abstract

The final step in poliovirus morphogenesis appears to be the combination of viral RNA with a protein shell called the procapsid.(1) Concomitant with the union of the RNA and the procapsid there is a cleavage of one of the procapsid proteins, producing two of the four proteins of the virion. We have now found that cleavages play an important role in the formation of most if not all poliovirus-specific proteins. Although most mammalian messenger RNA's appear to be monocistronic, it seems possible that a cleavage mechanism may function in the synthesis of some mammalian cell proteins.