Sherry Lee, Punovuori Karolina, Wallace Louisa E, Prangley Eliza, DeFries Sophie, Jackson David
Biomolecular Sciences Research Complex, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK.
J Gen Virol. 2016 Feb;97(2):306-315. doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.000358. Epub 2015 Dec 16.
For influenza A and B viruses to be infectious, they require eight viral RNA (vRNA) genome segments to be packaged into virions. For efficient packaging, influenza A viruses utilize cis-acting vRNA sequences, containing both non-coding and protein coding regions of each segment. Whether influenza B viruses have similar packaging signals is unknown. Here we show that coding regions at the 3' and 5' ends of the influenza B virus vRNA segment 4 are required for genome packaging, with the first 30 nt at each end essential for this process. Synonymous mutation of these regions led to virus attenuation, an increase in defective particle production and a reduction in packaging of multiple vRNAs. Overall, our data suggest that the influenza B virus vRNA gene segments likely interact with each other during the packaging process, which is driven by cis-acting packaging signals that extend into protein coding regions of the vRNA.
甲型和乙型流感病毒要具有传染性，需要将八个病毒RNA（vRNA）基因组片段包装到病毒粒子中。为了实现高效包装，甲型流感病毒利用顺式作用vRNA序列，该序列包含每个片段的非编码区和蛋白质编码区。乙型流感病毒是否具有类似的包装信号尚不清楚。在这里，我们表明乙型流感病毒vRNA片段4的3'和5'末端的编码区是基因组包装所必需的，两端的前30个核苷酸对此过程至关重要。这些区域的同义突变导致病毒减毒、缺陷颗粒产生增加以及多个vRNA包装减少。总体而言，我们的数据表明，乙型流感病毒vRNA基因片段在包装过程中可能相互作用，这一过程由延伸到vRNA蛋白质编码区的顺式作用包装信号驱动。
