Distribution of mutational fitness effects and of epistasis in the 5' untranslated region of a plant RNA virus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Understanding the causes and consequences of phenotypic variability is a central topic of evolutionary biology. Mutations within non-coding cis-regulatory regions are thought to be of major effect since they affect the expression of downstream genes. To address the evolutionary potential of mutations affecting such regions in RNA viruses, we explored the fitness properties of mutations affecting the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of a prototypical member of the picorna-like superfamily, Tobacco etch virus (TEV). This 5' UTR acts as an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) and is essential for expression of all viral genes.

Results

We determined in vitro the folding of 5' UTR using the selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) technique. The

SUBMITTER: Bernet GP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4672503 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature