Evidence for ADAR-induced hypermutation of the Drosophila sigma virus (Rhabdoviridae).

ABSTRACT:

Background

ADARs are RNA editing enzymes that target double stranded RNA and convert adenosine to inosine, which is read by translation machinery as if it were guanosine. Aside from their role in generating protein diversity in the central nervous system, ADARs have been implicated in the hypermutation of some RNA viruses, although why this hypermutation occurs is not well understood.

Results

Here we describe the hypermutation of adenosines to guanosines in the genome of the sigma virus--a negative sense RNA virus that infects Drosophila melanogaster. The clustering of these mutations and the context in which they occur indicates that they have been caused by ADARs. However, ADAR-editing of viral RNA is either rare or edited viral RNA are rapidly degraded, as we only detecte

SUBMITTER: Carpenter JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2790459 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature