Abstract
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis of RNA segments of the arenaviruses Pichinde (Pic) and Tacaribe (Tac) showed them to be distinguishable in that Pic S RNA had a slower electrophoretic mobility than Tac S RNA. The L and S RNA segments of Tac virions were found to have distinct RNase T1 oligonucleotide fingerprints, indicating that they are unique RNA species. The oligonucleotide patterns of the Tac L and S RNAs were also distinct from those of the corresponding Pic RNA segments.