Banerjee Rajeev, Dasgupta Asim
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, UCLA School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, CA-90095, USA1.
J Gen Virol. 2001 Nov;82(Pt 11):2621-2627. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-82-11-2621.
The picornavirus membrane-associated polypeptide 2C is believed to be required for viral RNA synthesis. Hepatitis A virus (HAV)- and human rhinovirus (HRV)-encoded recombinant 2C proteins have been expressed, purified and examined for their ability to interact with the terminal sequences of viral positive- and negative-strand RNAs. The results demonstrate that both the HAV- and the HRV-encoded 2C polypeptide specifically interact with the 3'-terminal sequences of the negative-strand RNA, but not with the complementary sequences at the 5' terminus of the positive-strand RNA. This interaction was detected by both mobility gel shift and UV cross-linking assays. Furthermore, complex formation exhibited dose-dependency and competition assays confirmed specificity. These results are consistent with our previous observation using the poliovirus 2C protein. The implication of the picornavirus 2C protein binding to the 3'-terminal sequence of the negative-strand untranslated region in viral RNA synthesis is discussed.
