Chemical stability of bacteriophage T7 early mRNA.

T7 early mRNA produced by a gene 1 amber mutant phage, T7 am27, is chemically stable interms of acid insolubility and T7 DNA hybridizability. However, the messenger activity of individual T7 early mRNA species, transcripts of gene 1, gene 0.7, and gene 1.3, decay with a half-life of about 6.5 min at 30 C. An extensive secondary structure is present in all T7 early mRNA species and is probably responsible for the chemical stability of the RNAs after the loss of functional activity. It is unlikely that ribosomes protect T7 early mRNA from nucleolytic degradation.