tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Virol. 2012 Apr 24. [Epub ahead of print]
The influenza A virus PB2, PA, NP and M segments play a pivotal role during genome packaging.
Gao Q, Chou YY, Doganay S, Vafabakhsh R, Ha T, Palese P.
Source
Departments of Microbiology.
Abstract
The genomes of influenza A viruses consist of eight negative-strand RNA segments. Recent studies suggest that influenza viruses are able to specifically package their segmented genomes into the progeny virions. Segment-specific packaging signals of influenza viral RNAs (vRNAs) are located in the 5' and 3' noncoding regions as well as in the terminal regions of the open reading frames. To date, how these packaging signals function during genome packaging remains unclear. Previously, we generated a 7-segmented virus, in which the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) segments of the influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/34 virus were replaced by a chimeric influenza C hemagglutinin/esterase/fusion (HEF) segment carrying the HA packaging sequences. The robust growth of the HEF virus suggested that the NA segment is not required for the packaging of other segments. In this study, in order to determine the roles of the other seven segments during the influenza A virus genome assembly, we continued to use this HEF virus as a tool, and analyzed the effect of substituting the packaging sequences of other segments with those of the NA segment. Our results showed that deleting the packaging signals of the PB1, HA, or NS segments had no effect on the growth of the HEF virus, while the growth was greatly impaired when the packaging sequences of the PB2, PA, NP or M segment were removed. These results indicate that the PB2, PA, NP and M segments play a more important role than the remaining four vRNAs during the genome packaging process.
PMID:
22532680
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22532680
The influenza A virus PB2, PA, NP and M segments play a pivotal role during genome packaging.
Gao Q, Chou YY, Doganay S, Vafabakhsh R, Ha T, Palese P.
Source
Departments of Microbiology.
Abstract
The genomes of influenza A viruses consist of eight negative-strand RNA segments. Recent studies suggest that influenza viruses are able to specifically package their segmented genomes into the progeny virions. Segment-specific packaging signals of influenza viral RNAs (vRNAs) are located in the 5' and 3' noncoding regions as well as in the terminal regions of the open reading frames. To date, how these packaging signals function during genome packaging remains unclear. Previously, we generated a 7-segmented virus, in which the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) segments of the influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/34 virus were replaced by a chimeric influenza C hemagglutinin/esterase/fusion (HEF) segment carrying the HA packaging sequences. The robust growth of the HEF virus suggested that the NA segment is not required for the packaging of other segments. In this study, in order to determine the roles of the other seven segments during the influenza A virus genome assembly, we continued to use this HEF virus as a tool, and analyzed the effect of substituting the packaging sequences of other segments with those of the NA segment. Our results showed that deleting the packaging signals of the PB1, HA, or NS segments had no effect on the growth of the HEF virus, while the growth was greatly impaired when the packaging sequences of the PB2, PA, NP or M segment were removed. These results indicate that the PB2, PA, NP and M segments play a more important role than the remaining four vRNAs during the genome packaging process.
PMID:
22532680
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22532680