Almost the entire 5' non-translated region of hepatitis C virus is required for cap-independent translation.
To investigate which hairpin structures within the 5' untranslated region of hepatitis C virus (HCV) are necessary for cap-independent translation, mutants were constructed that lack one or more hairpin structures. Here we demonstrate, by constructing precisely defined hairpin deletion mutants, that with the exception of the most 5' located hairpin structure, which on deletion shows an increase on translation, each of the predicted hairpins is found to be essential for cap-independent translation. In addition, we demonstrate that HCV 5'UTR driven translation is stimulated by poliovirus 2Apro co-expression.
Rijnbrand
R
R
Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Bredenbeek
P
P
van der Straaten
T
T
Whetter
L
L
Inchauspé
G
G
Lemon
S
S
Spaan
W
W
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D017931:DNA Primers; D015870:Gene Expression; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010442:Peptide Chain Initiation, Translational; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D017931:DNA Primers; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase