In vitro characterization of a miR-122-sensitive double-helical switch element in the 5′ region of hepatitis C virus RNA |
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| Authors: | Rosa Díaz-Toledano Ascensión Ariza-Mateos Alex Birk Belén Martínez-García Jordi Gómez |
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| Institution: | 1.Laboratorio de Arqueología del RNA, Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina ‘López Neyra’ Armilla 18100, Granada, Spain, 2.CIBERehd and 3.Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 18902, USA |
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| Abstract: | It has been proposed that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) internal ribosome entry site (IRES) resides within a locked conformation, owing to annealing of its immediate flanking sequences. In this study, structure probing using Escherichia coli dsRNA-specific RNase III and other classical tools showed that this region switches to an open conformation triggered by the liver-specific microRNA, miR-122. This structural transition, observed in vitro, may be the mechanistic basis for the involvement of downstream IRES structural domain VI in translation, as well as providing a role of liver-specific miR-122 in HCV infection. In addition, the induced RNA switching at the 5′ untranslated region could ultimately represent a new mechanism of action of micro-RNAs. |
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