A stem-loop motif formed by the immediate 5' terminus of the bovine viral diarrhea virus genome modulates translation as well as replication of the viral RNA.
Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a Pestivirus member of the Flaviviridae family, has a positive-stranded RNA genome which consists of a single open reading frame (ORF) and untranslated regions (UTRs) at the 5' and 3' ends. The 5' UTR harbors extensive RNA structure motifs; most of them were shown to contribute to an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES), which mediates cap-independent translation of the ORF. The extreme 5'-terminal region of the BVDV genome had so far been believed not to be required for IRES function. By structure probing techniques, we initially verified the existence of a computer-predicted stem-loop motif at the 5' end of the viral genome (hairpin Ia) as well as at the 3' end of the complementary negative-strand replication intermediate [termed hairpin Ia (-)]. While the stem of this structure is mainly constituted of nucleotides that are conserved among pestiviruses, the loop region is predominantly composed of variable residues. Taking a reverse genetics approach to a subgenomic BVDV replicon RNA (DI9c) which could be equally employed in a translation as well as replication assay system based on BHK-21 cells, we obtained the following results. (i) Proper folding of the Ia stem was found to be crucial for efficient translation. Thus, in the context of an authentic replication-competent viral RNA, the 5'-terminal motif operates apparently as an integral functional part of the ribosome entry. (ii) An intact loop structure and a stretch of nucleotide residues that constitute a portion of the stem of the Ia or the Ia (-) motif, respectively, were defined to represent important determinants of the RNA replication pathway. (iii) Formation of the stem structure of the Ia (-) motif was determined to be not critical for RNA replication. In summary, our findings affirmed that the 5'-terminal region of the BVDV genome encodes a bifunctional secondary structure motif which may enable the viral RNA to switch from the translation to the replicative cycle and vice versa.
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Institut für Virologie (FB Veterinärmedizin), Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany.
Isken
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Grassmann
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Behrens
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D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D006224:Cricetinae; D001908:Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D018075:RNA, Complementary; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014779:Virus Replication
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D018075:RNA, Complementary; D012367:RNA, Viral