RNA Structure Duplication in the Dengue Virus 3' UTR: Redundancy or Host Specificity?

ABSTRACT: Flaviviruses include a diverse group of medically important viruses that cycle between mosquitoes and humans. During this natural process of switching hosts, each species imposes different selective forces on the viral population. Using dengue virus (DENV) as model, we found that paralogous RNA structures originating from duplications in the viral 3' untranslated region (UTR) are under different selective pressures in the two hosts. These RNA structures, known as dumbbells (DB1 and DB2), were originally proposed to be enhancers of viral replication. Analysis of viruses obtained from infected mosquitoes showed selection of mutations that mapped in DB2. Recombinant viruses carrying the identified variations confirmed that these mutations greatly increase viral replication in mosquito cells,

SUBMITTER: de Borba L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6325252 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature