Energy Citations Database

Bibliographic Citation

 
Document
For copies of Journal Articles, please contact the Publisher or your local public or university library and refer to the information in the Resource Relation field.
For copies of other documents, please see the Availability, Publisher, Research Organization, Resource Relation and/or Author (affiliation information) fields and/or Document Availability.
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0042-6822(03)00156-9
Title A long HBV transcript encoding pX is inefficiently exported from the nucleus
Creator/Author Doitsh, Gilad ; Shaul, Yosef E-mail: yosef.shaul@weizmann.ac.il
Publication Date2003 May 10
OSTI IdentifierOSTI ID: 20493614
Other Number(s)Journal ID: ISSN 0042-6822; VIRLAX; TRN: US03S1708065767
Resource TypeJournal Article
Resource RelationJournal: Virology; Journal Volume: 309; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: PII: S0042682203001569; Copyright (c) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); PBD: 10 May 2003
Subject60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; CYTOPLASM; INFECTIOUS HEPATITIS; MUTAGENESIS; MUTANTS; PROTEINS; RNA; TRANSCRIPTION; VIRUSES
Description/Abstract The longest hepatitis B virus transcript is a 3.9-kb mRNA whose function remained unclear. In this study, we wished to identify the translation products and physiological role of this viral transcript. This transcript initiates from the X promoter region ignoring the inefficient and noncanonical viral polyadenylation signal at the first round of transcription. However, an HBV mutant with canonical polyadenylation signal continues, though with lower efficiency, to program the synthesis of this long transcript, indicating that the deviated HBV polyadenylation signal is important but not essential to enable transcription of the 3.9-kb species. The 3.9-kb RNA contains two times the X open reading frame (ORF). The X ORF at the 5'-end is positioned upstream of the CORE gene. By generating an HBV DNA mutant in which the X and Core ORFs are fused, we demonstrated the production of a 40-kDa X-Core fusion protein that must be encoded by the 3.9-kb transcript. Mutagenesis studies revealed that the production of this protein depends on the 5' X ORF ATG, suggesting that the 3.9-kb RNA is active in translation of the X ORF. Based on these features, the 3.9-kb transcript was designated lxRNA for long X RNA. Unlike other HBV transcripts, lxRNA harbors two copies of PRE, the posttranscriptional regulatory element that controls the nuclear export of HBV mRNAs. Unexpectedly, despite the presence of PRE sequences, RNA fractionation analysis revealed that lxRNA barely accumulates in the cytoplasm, suggesting that nuclear export of lxRNA is poor. Collectively, our data suggest that two distinct HBV mRNA species encode pX and that the HBV transcripts are differentially regulated at the level of nuclear export.
Country of PublicationUnited States
LanguageEnglish
FormatSize: page(s) 339-349
System Entry Date2004 Aug 23

Top