Honda Tomoyuki, Sofuku Kozue, Kojima Shohei, Yamamoto Yusuke, Ohtaki Naohiro, Tomonaga Keizo
Division of Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan; Laboratory of RNA Viruses, Department of Virus Research, Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences (InFRONT), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; Department of Mammalian Regulatory Network, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Laboratory of RNA Viruses, Department of Virus Research, Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences (InFRONT), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; Department of Mammalian Regulatory Network, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Virology. 2017 Oct;510:104-110. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2017.07.011. Epub 2017 Jul 14.
The 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the non-segmented, negative-strand (NNS) RNA viral genome is called the leader sequence, and functions as the promoter for viral replication and transcription. NNS RNA viruses also use the sequence as a template to synthesize leader RNAs (leRNAs) with unknown functions. Borna disease virus (BDV) is unique because it establishes a persistent infection and replicates in the nucleus. No report has yet demonstrated the presence of leRNAs during BDV infection. Here, we report that BDV synthesizes leRNAs from the 3'-UTR of the genome. They started at position 5 in the 3'-UTR and ended by the transcription start signal of the nucleoprotein gene. The level of leRNA production is not correlated with the levels of viral replication and transcription. On the other hand, mutation of the 3'-UTR affects leRNA production. Our findings add a novel viral transcript to the BDV life cycle and shed light on BDV replication and/or transcription.
非节段性负链（NNS）RNA病毒基因组的3'非翻译区（UTR）被称为前导序列，它作为病毒复制和转录的启动子发挥作用。NNS RNA病毒还将该序列用作模板来合成功能未知的前导RNA（leRNA）。博尔纳病病毒（BDV）很独特，因为它能建立持续性感染并在细胞核中复制。尚无报告表明BDV感染期间存在leRNA。在此，我们报告BDV从基因组的3'-UTR合成leRNA。它们起始于3'-UTR的第5位，终止于核蛋白基因的转录起始信号。leRNA的产生水平与病毒复制和转录水平无关。另一方面，3'-UTR的突变会影响leRNA的产生。我们的发现为BDV生命周期增添了一种新的病毒转录本，并为BDV的复制和/或转录提供了新线索。
