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Journal of Virology, November 2000, p. 10359-10370, Vol. 74, No. 22
Department of Molecular Genetics and
Microbiology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony
Brook, New York 11794,1 and Gorlaeus Laboratory,
Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The
Netherlands2
Received 10 May 2000/Accepted 17 August 2000
The first step in the replication of the plus-stranded poliovirus
RNA is the synthesis of a complementary minus strand. This process is
initiated by the covalent attachment of UMP to the terminal protein
VPg, yielding VPgpU and VPgpUpU. We have previously shown that these
products can be made in vitro in a reaction that requires only
synthetic VPg, UTP, poly(A), purified poliovirus RNA polymerase
3Dpol, and Mg2+ (A. V. Paul, J. H. van Boom, D. Filippov, and E. Wimmer, Nature 393:280-284, 1998). Since
such a poly(A)-dependent process cannot confer sufficient specificity
to poliovirus RNA replication, we have developed a new assay to search
for a viral RNA template in conjunction with viral or cellular factors
that could provide this function. We have now discovered a small RNA
hairpin in the coding region of protein 2C as the site in PV1(M) RNA
that is used as the primary template for the in vitro uridylylation of VPg. This hairpin has recently been described in poliovirus RNA as
being an essential structure for the initiation of minus strand RNA
synthesis (I. Goodfellow, Y. Chaudhry, A. Richardson, J. Meredith, J. W. Almond, W. Barclay, and D. J. Evans, J. Virol.
74:4590-4600, 2000). The uridylylation reaction either with
transcripts of cre(2C) RNA or with full-length PV1(M) RNA
as the template is strongly stimulated by the addition of purified
viral protein 3CDpro. Deletion of the cre(2C)
RNA sequences from minigenomes eliminates their ability to serve as
template in the reaction. A similar signal in the coding region of VP1
in HRV14 RNA (K. L. McKnight and S. M. Lemon, RNA
4:1569-1584, 1998) and the poliovirus cre(2C) can be
functionally exchanged in the assay. The mechanism by which the VPgpUpU
precursor, made specifically on the cre(2C) template, might
be transferred to the site where it serves as primer for poliovirus RNA
synthesis, remains to be determined.
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Identification of an RNA Hairpin in Poliovirus RNA
That Serves as the Primary Template in the In Vitro Uridylylation
of VPg
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794. Phone: (631) 632-9777. Fax: (631)
632-8891. E-mail: apaul{at}ms.cc.sunysb.edu.
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