Structure and function of bacteriophage R17 replicative intermediate ribonucleic acid. II. Properties of the parental labeled molecule.

Replicative intermediate ribonucleic acid (RNA), designated RI, which contained parental RNA labeled with (32)P was separated by filtration through agarose from the nucleic acids prepared from (32)P-labeled RNA phage-infected Escherichia coli. A larger amount of ribonuclease-sensitive parental label was found in the rapidly sedimenting forms of RI than in the slower sedimenting forms, indicating that parental RNA is displaced to form a single-stranded tail. This result indicates that some phage RNA is generated by asymmetric semiconservative replication of RI, but it does not mean that a portion of the RI duplexes cannot be conserved during generation of phage RNA. Parental RNA was also found in double-stranded RNA with no apparent tails which sedimented with an S value of 13. This RNA was soluble in 2 m NaCl, and its sedimentation rate was unaffected by ribonuclease; nevertheless, single-strand scissions were produced by ribonuclease and were detected after the duplex was converted to its component single strands.