BACKGROUND: Accessory proteins have diverse roles in coronavirus pathobiology. One of them in SARS-CoV (the causative agent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2002-2003) is encoded by the open reading frame 8 (ORF8). Among the most dramatic genomic changes observed in SARS-CoV isolated from patients during the peak of the pandemic in 2003 was the acquisition of a characteristic 29-nucleotide deletion in ORF8. This deletion cause splitting of ORF8 into two smaller ORFs, namely ORF8a and ORF8b. Functional consequences of this event are not entirely clear. RESULTS: Here, we performed evolutionary analyses of ORF8a and ORF8b genes and documented that in both cases the frequency of synonymous mutations was greater than that of nonsynonymous ones. These results suggest that ORF8a and ORF8b are under purifying selection, thus proteins translated from these ORFs are likely to be functionally important. Comparisons with several other SARS-CoV genes revealed that another accessory gene, ORF7a, has a similar ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous mutations suggesting that ORF8a, ORF8b, and ORF7a are under similar selection pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Our results for SARS-CoV echo the known excess of deletions in the ORF7a-ORF7b-ORF8 complex of accessory genes in SARS-CoV-2. A high frequency of deletions in this gene complex might reflect recurrent searches in "functional space" of various accessory protein combinations that may eventually produce more advantageous configurations of accessory proteins similar to the fixed deletion in the SARS-CoV ORF8 gene.
- MeSH
- biologická evoluce MeSH
- COVID-19 * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- nukleotidy MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce MeSH
- SARS-CoV-2 genetika MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
A virome screen was performed on a new breeding line, KB1, of blackcurrant. Rhabdovirus-like particles were observed by electron microscopy in ultrathin sections of flower stalks, and the complete genome sequence of a novel virus, provisionally named blackcurrant rhabdovirus 2 (BCRV2), was determined and verified using high-throughput sequencing. The genomic organization of BCRV2 was characteristic of cytorhabdoviruses (family Rhabdoviridae) and included seven genes: 3 ́- N-P ́-P-P3-M-G-L -5 ́. BLASTP analysis revealed that the putative L protein had the highest amino acid sequence identity (75 %) with strawberry virus 2. BCRV2 was detected in Cryptomyzusgaleopsidis, but efficient transmission by this aphid was not confirmed. Of note, we observed coinfection of the KB1 line with blackcurrant-associated rhabdovirus (BCaRV) by RT-PCR. This is likely the first evidence of the presence of a cyto- and a nucleorhabdovirus in a single host.
The genus Cytorhabdovirus includes plant viruses with an unsegmented, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA genome that infect various plant hosts. In this work, we report the detection of a new cytorhabdovirus infecting elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.). Total RNA was purified from infected leaves and, after ribodepletion, sequenced using an Illumina system. The RNA genome of viral isolate B15 is 12,622 nucleotides (nt) long, and that of isolate B42 is 12,621 nt long. A nearly complete sequence (12,592 nt) was also obtained for a third isolate (B160). The RNA genomes of all three isolates showed an organisation typical of cytorhabdoviruses, harbouring all six of the expected genes (3 ́ N-P-P3-M-G-L 5 ́), separated by intergenic regions. These isolates were closely related to each other (99.5-99.6% nt sequence identity) and showed the highest overall similarity to trichosanthes associated rhabdovirus 1 (63.5% identity) and Wuhan insect virus 5 (58% identity), and similar results were obtained when comparing individual coding sequences or proteins. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that this elderberry virus, for which we propose the name "sambucus virus 1" belongs to the genus Cytorhabdovirus and fulfils the criteria to represent a novel species.
- MeSH
- bez černý * MeSH
- bez * genetika MeSH
- fylogeneze MeSH
- genom virový MeSH
- nemoci rostlin MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce MeSH
- Rhabdoviridae * MeSH
- RNA MeSH
- virové proteiny genetika MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
Due to the fast global spreading of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - 2 (SARS-CoV-2), prevention and treatment options are direly needed in order to control infection-related morbidity, mortality, and economic losses. Although drug and inactivated and attenuated virus vaccine development can require significant amounts of time and resources, DNA and RNA vaccines offer a quick, simple, and cheap treatment alternative, even when produced on a large scale. The spike protein, which has been shown as the most antigenic SARS-CoV-2 protein, has been widely selected as the target of choice for DNA/RNA vaccines. Vaccination campaigns have reported high vaccination rates and protection, but numerous unintended effects, ranging from muscle pain to death, have led to concerns about the safety of RNA/DNA vaccines. In parallel to these studies, several open reading frames (ORFs) have been found to be overlapping SARS-CoV-2 accessory genes, two of which, ORF2b and ORF-Sh, overlap the spike protein sequence. Thus, the presence of these, and potentially other ORFs on SARS-CoV-2 DNA/RNA vaccines, could lead to the translation of undesired proteins during vaccination. Herein, we discuss the translation of overlapping genes in connection with DNA/RNA vaccines. Two mRNA vaccine spike protein sequences, which have been made publicly-available, were compared to the wild-type sequence in order to uncover possible differences in putative overlapping ORFs. Notably, the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine sequence is predicted to contain no frameshifted ORFs on the positive sense strand, which highlights the utility of codon optimization in DNA/RNA vaccine design to remove undesired overlapping ORFs. Since little information is available on ORF2b or ORF-Sh, we use structural bioinformatics techniques to investigate the structure-function relationship of these proteins. The presence of putative ORFs on DNA/RNA vaccine candidates implies that overlapping genes may contribute to the translation of smaller peptides, potentially leading to unintended clinical outcomes, and that the protein-coding potential of DNA/RNA vaccines should be rigorously examined prior to administration.
- MeSH
- DNA vakcíny škodlivé účinky genetika MeSH
- glykoprotein S, koronavirus genetika MeSH
- kodon MeSH
- konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- messenger RNA MeSH
- mRNA vakcíny škodlivé účinky genetika MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce MeSH
- překrývající se geny * MeSH
- proteinové domény MeSH
- proteosyntéza MeSH
- vakcíny proti COVID-19 škodlivé účinky genetika MeSH
- virové geny * MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Anelloviruses are small negative-sense single-stranded DNA viruses with genomes ranging in size from 1.6 to 3.9 kb. The family Anelloviridae comprised 14 genera before the present changes. However, in the last five years, a large number of diverse anelloviruses have been identified in various organisms. Here, we undertake a global analysis of mammalian anelloviruses whose full genome sequences have been determined and have an intact open reading frame 1 (ORF1). We established new criteria for the classification of anelloviruses, and, based on our analyses, we establish new genera and species to accommodate the unclassified anelloviruses. We also note that based on the updated species demarcation criteria, some previously assigned species (n = 10) merge with other species. Given the rate at which virus sequence data are accumulating, and with the identification of diverse anelloviruses, we acknowledge that the taxonomy will have to be dynamic and continuously evolve to accommodate new members.
- MeSH
- Anelloviridae klasifikace genetika MeSH
- databáze genetické MeSH
- DNA virů genetika MeSH
- fylogeneze MeSH
- genom virový genetika MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce genetika MeSH
- savci virologie MeSH
- sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
- terminologie jako téma MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Translation reinitiation is a gene-specific translational control mechanism. It is characterized by the ability of short upstream ORFs to prevent full ribosomal recycling and allow the post-termination 40S subunit to resume traversing downstream for the next initiation event. It is well known that variable transcript-specific features of various uORFs and their prospective interactions with initiation factors lend them an unequivocal regulatory potential. Here, we investigated the proposed role of the major initiation scaffold protein eIF4G in reinitiation and its prospective interactions with uORF's cis-acting features in yeast. In analogy to the eIF3 complex, we found that eIF4G and eIF4A but not eIF4E (all constituting the eIF4F complex) are preferentially retained on ribosomes elongating and terminating on reinitiation-permissive uORFs. The loss of the eIF4G contact with eIF4A specifically increased this retention and, as a result, increased the efficiency of reinitiation on downstream initiation codons. Combining the eIF4A-binding mutation with that affecting the integrity of the eIF4G1-RNA2-binding domain eliminated this specificity and produced epistatic interaction with a mutation in one specific cis-acting feature. We conclude that similar to humans, eIF4G is retained on ribosomes elongating uORFs to control reinitiation also in yeast.
- MeSH
- DEAD-box RNA-helikasy genetika MeSH
- eukaryotický iniciační faktor 3 genetika MeSH
- eukaryotický iniciační faktor 4E genetika MeSH
- eukaryotický iniciační faktor 4G genetika MeSH
- iniciace translace peptidového řetězce genetika MeSH
- kodon iniciační genetika MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce genetika MeSH
- proteosyntéza genetika MeSH
- ribozomy genetika MeSH
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae - proteiny genetika MeSH
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae genetika MeSH
- transkripční faktory bZIP genetika MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Marine oomycetes have recently been shown to be concurrently infected by (-)ssRNA viruses of the order Bunyavirales. In this work, even higher virus variability was found in a single isolate of Phytophthora condilina, a recently described member of Phytophthora phylogenetic Clade 6a, which was isolated from brackish estuarine waters in southern Portugal. Using total and small RNA-seq the full RdRp of 13 different potential novel bunya-like viruses and two complete toti-like viruses were detected. All these viruses were successfully confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using total RNA as template, but complementarily one of the toti-like and five of the bunya-like viruses were confirmed when dsRNA was purified for RT-PCR. In our study, total RNA-seq was by far more efficient for de novo assembling of the virus sequencing but small RNA-seq showed higher read numbers for most viruses. Two main populations of small RNAs (21 nts and 25 nts-long) were identified, which were in accordance with other Phytophthora species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using small RNA sequencing to identify viruses in Phytophthora spp.
- MeSH
- fylogeneze MeSH
- genom virový MeSH
- malá nekódující RNA genetika MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce MeSH
- Phytophthora virologie MeSH
- RNA virová genetika MeSH
- RNA-viry klasifikace genetika izolace a purifikace MeSH
- sekvenční analýza DNA MeSH
- sekvenční analýza RNA * MeSH
- sekvenování transkriptomu MeSH
- virové nemoci virologie MeSH
- výpočetní biologie MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Portugalsko MeSH
Nonsense mutations turn a coding (sense) codon into an in-frame stop codon that is assumed to result in a truncated protein product. Thus, nonsense substitutions are the hallmark of pseudogenes and are used to identify them. Here we show that in-frame stop codons within bacterial protein-coding genes are widespread. Their evolutionary conservation suggests that many of them are not pseudogenes, since they maintain dN/dS values (ratios of substitution rates at non-synonymous and synonymous sites) significantly lower than 1 (this is a signature of purifying selection in protein-coding regions). We also found that double substitutions in codons-where an intermediate step is a nonsense substitution-show a higher rate of evolution compared to null models, indicating that a stop codon was introduced and then changed back to sense via positive selection. This further supports the notion that nonsense substitutions in bacteria are relatively common and do not necessarily cause pseudogenization. In-frame stop codons may be an important mechanism of regulation: Such codons are likely to cause a substantial decrease of protein expression levels.
- MeSH
- Bacteria klasifikace genetika MeSH
- bakteriální proteiny klasifikace genetika MeSH
- bodová mutace MeSH
- fylogeneze MeSH
- modely genetické MeSH
- molekulární evoluce MeSH
- nesmyslný kodon * MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce genetika MeSH
- prokaryotické buňky metabolismus MeSH
- pseudogeny genetika MeSH
- sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
- sekvenční homologie nukleových kyselin MeSH
- selekce (genetika) MeSH
- terminační kodon genetika MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
An enigmatic localized pneumonia escalated into a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This review aims to consolidate the extensive biological minutiae of SARS-CoV-2 which requires decipherment. Having one of the largest RNA viral genomes, the single strand contains the genes ORF1ab, S, E,M, N and ten open reading frames. Highlighting unique features such as stem-loop formation, slippery frameshifting sequences and ribosomal mimicry, SARS-CoV-2 represents a formidable cellular invader. Hijacking the hosts translational engine, it produces two polyprotein repositories (pp1a and pp1ab), armed with self-cleavage capacity for production of sixteen non-structural proteins. Novel glycosylation sites on the spike trimer reveal unique SARS-CoV-2 features for shielding and cellular internalization. Affording complexity for superior fitness and camouflage, SARS-CoV-2 challenges diagnosis and vaccine vigilance. This review serves the scientific community seeking in-depth molecular details when designing drugs to curb transmission of this biological armament.
- MeSH
- COVID-19 genetika metabolismus virologie MeSH
- fylogeneze MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce MeSH
- pandemie MeSH
- RNA virová genetika MeSH
- SARS-CoV-2 genetika metabolismus MeSH
- virové proteiny metabolismus MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- přehledy MeSH
The 12 members of the ABCA subfamily in humans are known for their ability to transport cholesterol and its derivatives, vitamins, and xenobiotics across biomembranes. Several ABCA genes are causatively linked to inborn diseases, and the role in cancer progression and metastasis is studied intensively. The regulation of translation initiation is implicated as the major mechanism in the processes of post-transcriptional modifications determining final protein levels. In the current bioinformatics study, we mapped the features of the 5' untranslated regions (5'UTR) known to have the potential to regulate translation, such as the length of 5'UTRs, upstream ATG codons, upstream open-reading frames, introns, RNA G-quadruplex-forming sequences, stem loops, and Kozak consensus motifs, in the DNA sequences of all members of the subfamily. Subsequently, the conservation of the features, correlations among them, ribosome profiling data as well as protein levels in normal human tissues were examined. The 5'UTRs of ABCA genes contain above-average numbers of upstream ATGs, open-reading frames and introns, as well as conserved ones, and these elements probably play important biological roles in this subfamily, unlike RG4s. Although we found significant correlations among the features, we did not find any correlation between the numbers of 5'UTR features and protein tissue distribution and expression scores. We showed the existence of single nucleotide variants in relation to the 5'UTR features experimentally in a cohort of 105 breast cancer patients. 5'UTR features presumably prepare a complex playground, in which the other elements such as RNA binding proteins and non-coding RNAs play the major role in the fine-tuning of protein expression.
- MeSH
- 5' nepřekládaná oblast genetika MeSH
- ABC transportér, podrodina A klasifikace genetika metabolismus MeSH
- biologický transport genetika MeSH
- cholesterol metabolismus MeSH
- introny genetika MeSH
- jednonukleotidový polymorfismus genetika MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- multigenová rodina genetika MeSH
- otevřené čtecí rámce genetika MeSH
- proteosyntéza genetika MeSH
- ribozomy genetika metabolismus MeSH
- výpočetní biologie MeSH
- xenobiotika metabolismus MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH