Key result
Liver-specific microRNA miR-122 triggers a structural transition of the hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site to an open conformation in vitro.
It has been proposed that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) internal ribosome entry site (IRES) resides within a locked conformation, owing to annealing of its immediate flanking sequences. In this study, structure probing using Escherichia coli dsRNA-specific RNase III and other classical tools showed that this region switches to an open conformation triggered by the liver-specific microRNA, miR-122. This structural transition, observed in vitro, may be the mechanistic basis for the involvement of downstream IRES structural domain VI in translation, as well as providing a role of liver-specific miR-122 in HCV infection. In addition, the induced RNA switching at the 5' untranslated region could ultimately represent a new mechanism of action of micro-RNAs.
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Díaz-Toledano et al. (2009) studied Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. miR-122 was evaluated on Structural transition of the HCV internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to an open conformation. Liver-specific microRNA miR-122 triggers a structural transition of the hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site to an open conformation in vitro.
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