Key result
The minimal functional Rous sarcoma virus RNA stability element is 155 nucleotides and acts as an insulator to mask the preceding stop codon from the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay machinery.
The Rous sarcoma virus utilizes a 155-nucleotide RNA stability element to evade nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, functioning independently of the stop codon sequence.
No immediate clinical implications; leaves open whether analogous elements regulate pathogenic human retroviruses.
BACKGROUND: Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is an mRNA quality control mechanism that selectively recognizes and targets for degradation mRNAs containing premature termination codons. Retroviral full-length RNA is presented to the host translation machinery with characteristics rarely observed among host cell mRNAs: a long 3' UTR, retained introns, and multiple open reading frames. As a result, the viral RNA is predicted to be recognized by the host NMD machinery and degraded. In the case of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), we identified a stability element (RSE), which resides immediately downstream of the gag termination codon and facilitates NMD evasion. RESULTS: We defined key RNA features of the RSE through directed mutagenesis of the virus. These data suggest that the minimal RSE is 155 nucleotides (nts) and functions independently of the nucleotide sequence of the stop codon or the first nucleotide following the stop codon. Further data suggested that the 3'UTRs of the RSV pol and src may also function as stability elements. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that these stability elements in RSV may be acting as NMD insulators to mask the preceding stop codon from the NMD machinery.
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Withers et al. (2010) studied Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) RNA stability. Mutations and truncations of the RSV RNA stability element (RSE) vs. Wild-type RSV RNA was evaluated on Steady-state viral RNA levels. The minimal functional Rous sarcoma virus RNA stability element is 155 nucleotides and acts as an insulator to mask the preceding stop codon from the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay machinery.
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