Biochemical characterization of arterivirus nonstructural protein 11 reveals the nidovirus-wide conservation of a replicative endoribonuclease.

ABSTRACT: Nidoviruses (arteriviruses, coronaviruses, and roniviruses) are a phylogenetically compact but diverse group of positive-strand RNA viruses that includes important human and animal pathogens. Nidovirus RNA synthesis is mediated by a cytoplasmic membrane-associated replication/transcription complex that includes up to 16 viral nonstructural proteins (nsps), which carry common enzymatic activities, like the viral RNA polymerase, but also unusual and poorly understood RNA-processing functions. Of these, a conserved endoribonuclease (NendoU) is a major genetic marker that is unique to nidoviruses. NendoU activity was previously verified in vitro for the coronavirus nsp15, but not for any of its distantly related orthologs from other nidovirus lineages, like the arterivirus nsp11. Here, we show

SUBMITTER: Nedialkova DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2681944 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature