Cis-acting RNA signals in the NS5B C-terminal coding sequence of the hepatitis C virus genome.

ABSTRACT: The cis-replicating RNA elements in the 5' and 3' nontranslated regions (NTRs) of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome have been thoroughly studied before. However, no cis-replicating elements have been identified in the coding sequences of the HCV polyprotein until very recently. The existence of highly conserved and stable stem-loop structures in the RNA polymerase NS5B coding sequence, however, has been previously predicted (A. Tuplin, J. Wood, D. J. Evans, A. H. Patel, and P. Simmonds, RNA 8:824-841, 2002). We have selected for our studies a 249-nt-long RNA segment in the C-terminal NS5B coding region (NS5BCR), which is predicted to form four stable stem-loop structures (SL-IV to SL-VII). By deletion and mutational analyses of the RNA structures, we have determined that two of the stem-l

SUBMITTER: Lee H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC521798 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature