Hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site

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Hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site

Type:	Cis-reg; IRES;
2° structure:	Published; PubMed
Seed alignment:	Griffiths-Jones SR
Avg length:	206.5 nucleotides
Avg identity:	90%

Protein translation of most eukaryotic mRNAs requires association of Met-tRNA, several eukaryotic initiation factors, and GTP with the 40S ribosomal subunit. The ribosome can only bind the capped mRNA after binding the initiator tRNA. Translation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) mRNA is initiated by a different mechanism from the usual 5' cap-binding model.^[1] This alternate mechanism relies on the direct binding of the 40S ribosomal subunit by the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in the 5' UTR of HCV RNA. HCV IRES adopts a complex structure, and may differ significantly from IRES elements identified in picornaviruses. A small number of eukaryotic mRNA have been shown to be translated by internal ribosome entry.^[2]^[3]

[edit] References

^ Lytle, JR; Wu L, Robertson HD (2002). "Domains on the hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site for 40s subunit binding". RNA 8: 1045–1055. doi:10.1017/S1355838202029965. PMID 12212848.
^ Beales, LP; Rowlands DJ, Holzenburg A (2001). "The internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of hepatitis C virus visualized by electron microscopy". RNA 7: 661–670. doi:10.1017/S1355838201001406. PMID 11350030.
^ Gallego, J; Varani G (2002). "The hepatitis C virus internal ribosome-entry site: a new target for antiviral research". Biochem Soc Trans 30: 140–145. doi:10.1042/BST0300140. PMID 12023841.