Discontinuous template switching generates coronavirus subgenomic RNAs from the 3' viral genome end by 5' to 3' transcription.

ABSTRACT: In coronavirus (CoV)-infected cells, several structural and accessory proteins are synthesized from subgenome RNAs (sgRNA) containing a common genomic 5'-leader followed by a given open reading frame (ORF). We report that the abundance of these sgRNAs varies with distance from the 3'-end of the genome. Thus, there are more sgRNAs encoding nucleocapsid (N) than spike (S), presumably the results from discontinuous 5'-3' transcription template switch mediated by the viral replication and transcription complex (RTC). We optimized the circular polymerase extension reaction (CPER) methodology to generate infectious double-stranded circular cDNA (ds-circDNA) containing the mNeonGreen (NG) reporter in accessory ORFs of human CoVs OC43 and SARS-CoV-2. In each CoV, we found that levels of sgRNAs and

SUBMITTER: Brant AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12548397 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature