Polyglutamine Repeats in Viruses.

ABSTRACT: This review explores the presence and functions of polyglutamine (polyQ) in viral proteins. In mammals, mutations in polyQ segments (and CAG repeats at the nucleotide level) have been linked to neural disorders and ataxias. PolyQ regions in normal human proteins have documented functional roles, in transcription factors and, more recently, in regulating autophagy. Despite the high frequency of polyQ repeats in eukaryotic genomes, little attention has been given to the presence or possible role of polyQ sequences in virus genomes. A survey described here revealed that polyQ repeats occur rarely in RNA viruses, suggesting that they have detrimental effects on virus replication at the nucleotide or protein level. However, there have been sporadic reports of polyQ segments in potyviruses and i

SUBMITTER: Schein CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6399083 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature