Complementarity between RNA dimerization elements favors formation of functional heterozygous murine leukemia viruses.
The cis-elements that direct packaging and dimerization of retroviral RNAs overlap, and it has been suggested that dimerization is required for RNA packaging. This also implies that heterodimerization would be necessary for co-packaging and recombination. Moreover, co-packaging of distinct RNAs may be reduced if incapable of heterodimerizing. In this study, we have designed a novel two-vector rescue system in which co-packaging and interstrand transfer are necessary for transduction. Thus, the rescue titer is a measure of the ability of a given vector combination to co-package and subsequently generate a provirus. In the current MLV-based set-up, we explored Akv- and MLV-like-endogenous virus (MLEV)-derived vectors with modulated dimerization signals. Results show that rescue is influenced by competition at the level of RNA packaging, as well as complementarity between dimerization elements. Altogether, the results support the hypothesis that complementarity between dimerization elements may favor co-packaging of distinct retroviral RNAs.
Rasmussen
Sørenvestergaard
S
Department of Molecular Biology, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Pedersen
Finn Skou
FS
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D019281:Dimerization; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D019065:Virus Assembly
D012367:RNA, Viral