Key result
Mutations in the terminal loop of hairpin H4 and adjacent regions of the Turnip Crinkle Virus 3' UTR significantly reduced viral accumulation and translation, revealing a complex local interactive network of RNA elements.
The Pr loop, TSS, and H4 are central elements in the regulation of translation and replication in Turnip crinkle virus, forming a complex interactive RNA network.
May guide plant antiviral strategies; leaves open whether similar RNA networks operate in human pathogens.
The majority of the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) was previously identified as forming a highly interactive structure with a ribosome-binding tRNA-shaped structure (TSS) acting as a scaffold and undergoing a widespread conformational shift upon binding to RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). Tertiary interactions in the region were explored by identifying two highly detrimental mutations within and adjacent to a hairpin H4 upstream of the TSS that reduce translation in vivo and cause identical structural changes in the loop of the 3' terminal hairpin Pr. Second-site changes that compensate for defects in translation/accumulation and reverse the structural differences in the Pr loop were found in the Pr stem, as well as in a specific stem within the TSS and within the capsid protein (CP) coding region, suggesting that the second-site changes were correcting a conformational defect and not restoring specific base pairing. The RdRp-mediated conformational shift extended upstream through this CP open reading frame (ORF) region after bypassing much of an intervening, largely unstructured region, supporting a connection between 3' elements and coding region elements. These data suggest that the Pr loop, TSS, and H4 are central elements in the regulation of translation and replication in TCV and allow for development of an RNA interactome that maps the higher-order structure of a postulated RNA domain within the 3' region of a plus-strand RNA virus.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Yuan et al. (2012) studied Turnip Crinkle Virus (TCV) infection. 3' UTR mutations (e.g., U3887A, U3887G, A3865U) vs. Wild-type TCV was evaluated on Viral genomic RNA accumulation and translation efficiency. Mutations in the terminal loop of hairpin H4 and adjacent regions of the Turnip Crinkle Virus 3' UTR significantly reduced viral accumulation and translation, revealing a complex local interactive network of RNA elements.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: