Genetic economy in picornaviruses: Foot-and-mouth disease virus replication exploits alternative precursor cleavage pathways.

ABSTRACT: The RNA genomes of picornaviruses are translated into single polyproteins which are subsequently cleaved into structural and non-structural protein products. For genetic economy, proteins and processing intermediates have evolved to perform distinct functions. The picornavirus precursor protein, P3, is cleaved to produce membrane-associated 3A, primer peptide 3B, protease 3Cpro and polymerase 3Dpol. Uniquely, foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) encodes three similar copies of 3B (3B1-3), thus providing a convenient natural system to explore the role(s) of 3B in the processing cascade. Using a replicon system, we confirmed by genetic deletion or functional inactivation that each copy of 3B appears to function independently to prime FMDV RNA replication. However, we also show that deletion o

SUBMITTER: Herod MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5638621 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature