Rotavirus prevents the expression of host responses by blocking the nucleocytoplasmic transport of polyadenylated mRNAs.

Rotaviruses are the most important agent of severe gastroenteritis in young children. Early in infection, these viruses take over the host translation machinery, causing a severe shutoff of cell protein synthesis while viral proteins are efficiently synthesized. In infected cells, there is an accumulation of the cytoplasmic poly(A)-binding protein in the nucleus, induced by the viral protein NSP3. Here we found that poly(A)-containing mRNAs also accumulate and become hyperadenylated in the nuclei of infected cells. Using reporter genes bearing the untranslated regions (UTRs) of cellular or viral genes, we found that the viral UTRs do not determine the efficiency of translation of mRNAs in rotavirus-infected cells. Furthermore, we showed that while a polyadenylated reporter mRNA directly delivered into the cytoplasm of infected cells was efficiently translated, the same reporter introduced as a plasmid that needs to be transcribed and exported to the cytoplasm was poorly translated. Altogether, these results suggest that nuclear retention of poly(A)-containing mRNAs is one of the main strategies of rotavirus to control cell translation and therefore the host antiviral and stress responses.