The herpes simplex virus host shutoff (vhs) RNase limits accumulation of double stranded RNA in infected cells: Evidence for accelerated decay of duplex RNA.

ABSTRACT: The herpes simplex virus virion host shutoff (vhs) RNase destabilizes cellular and viral mRNAs and blunts host innate antiviral responses. Previous work demonstrated that cells infected with vhs mutants display enhanced activation of the host double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-activated protein kinase R (PKR), implying that vhs limits dsRNA accumulation in infected cells. Confirming this hypothesis, we show that partially complementary transcripts of the UL23/UL24 and UL30/31 regions of the viral genome increase in abundance when vhs is inactivated, giving rise to greatly increased levels of intracellular dsRNA formed by annealing of the overlapping portions of these RNAs. Thus, vhs limits accumulation of dsRNA at least in part by reducing the levels of complementary viral transcripts. We then as

SUBMITTER: Dauber B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6821131 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature