A case for a CUG-initiated coding sequence overlapping torovirus ORF1a and encoding a novel 30 kDa product.

ABSTRACT: The genus Torovirus (order Nidovirales) includes a number of species that infect livestock. These viruses have a linear positive-sense ssRNA genome of approximately 25-30 kb, encoding a large polyprotein that is expressed from the genomic RNA, and several additional proteins expressed from a nested set of 3'-coterminal subgenomic RNAs. In this brief report, we describe the bioinformatic discovery of a new, apparently coding, ORF that overlaps the 5' end of the polyprotein coding sequence, ORF1a, in the +2 reading frame. The new ORF has a strong coding signature and, in fact, is more conserved at the amino acid level than the overlapping region of ORF1a. We propose that the new ORF utilizes a non-AUG initiation codon--namely a conserved CUG codon in a strong Kozak context--upstream of the O

SUBMITTER: Firth AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2749830 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature