In vitro translation of influenza virus messenger RNAs

A wheat embryo translation system was used to study the translation of influenza virus messenger RNAs. In this in vitro system, the influenza virus proteins, P₁ and P₂, the nucleoprotein NP, the matrix protein M, and the nonstructural protein NS₁ were made but synthesis of the glycosylated proteins, the hemagglutinin, and the neuraminidase was not detected. Products of the in vitro reaction were identified by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and tryptic peptide maps. This confirmed the existence of the nonstructural protein NS₁ as a protein separate from the M protein. No evidence was found in the in vitro system for the presence of NS₂, a low molecular weight nonstructural protein, which has been described in the literature.