Identification of a highly conserved sequence element at the 3' terminus of hepatitis C virus genome RNA

Author:

Kolykhalov A A1,Feinstone S M1,Rice C M1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110-1093, USA.

Abstract

Previous reports suggest that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome RNA terminates with homopolymer tracts of either poly(U) or poly(A). By ligation of synthetic oligonucleotides followed by reverse transcription-PCR, cDNA cloning, and sequence analysis, we determined the 3'-terminal sequence of HCV genome RNA. Our results show that the HCV 3' nontranslated region consists of four elements (positive sense, 5' to 3'): (i) a short sequence with significant variability among genotypes, (ii) a homopolymeric poly(U) tract, (iii) a polypyrimidine stretch consisting of mainly U with interspersed C residues, (iv) a novel sequence of 98 bases. This latter nucleotide sequence is not present in human genomic DNA and is highly conserved among HCV genotypes. The 3'-terminal 46 bases are predicted to form a stable stem-loop structure. Using a quantitative-competitive reverse transcription-PCR assay, we show that a substantial fraction of HCV genome RNAs from a high- specific-infectivity inoculum contain this 3'-terminal sequence element. These results indicate that the HCV genome RNA terminates with a highly conserved RNA element which is likely to be required for authentic HCV replication and recovery of infectious RNA from cDNA.

Publisher

American Society for Microbiology

Subject

Virology,Insect Science,Immunology,Microbiology

Reference40 articles.

1. Interaction of polypyrimidine tract-binding protein with the 5~ noncoding region of the hepatitis C virus RNA genome and its functional requirement in internal initiation of translation;Ali N.;J. Virol.,1995

2. Ausubel F. M. R. Brent R. E. Kingston D. D. Moore J. G. Seidman J. A. Smith and K. Struhl (ed.). 1993. Current protocols in molecular biology. Greene Publishing Associates New York.

3. Specific RNA binding by amino-terminal peptides of alfalfa mosaic virus coat protein;Baer M. L.;EMBO J.,1994

4. Requirements for the self-directed replication of flock house virus RNA 1;Ball L. A.;J. Virol.,1995

5. cis-acting requirements for the replication of flock house virus RNA 2;Ball L. A.;J. Virol.,1992

Cited by 401 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3