Candidates in Astroviruses, Seadornaviruses, Cytorhabdoviruses and Coronaviruses for +1 frame overlapping genes accessed by leaky scanning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overlapping genes are common in RNA viruses where they serve as a mechanism to optimize the coding potential of compact genomes. However, annotation of overlapping genes can be difficult using conventional gene-finding software. Recently we have been using a number of complementary approaches to systematically identify previously undetected overlapping genes in RNA virus genomes. In this article we gather together a number of promising candidate new overlapping genes that may be of interest to the community.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overlapping gene predictions are presented for the astroviruses, seadornaviruses, cytorhabdoviruses and coronaviruses (families <it>Astroviridae</it>, <it>Reoviridae</it>, <it>Rhabdoviridae </it>and <it>Coronaviridae</it>, respectively).</p

NS1′ of Flaviviruses in the Japanese Encephalitis Virus Serogroup Is a Product of Ribosomal Frameshifting and Plays a Role in Viral Neuroinvasiveness▿

Flavivirus NS1 is a nonstructural protein involved in virus replication and regulation of the innate immune response. Interestingly, a larger NS1-related protein, NS1′, is often detected during infection with the members of the Japanese encephalitis virus serogroup of flaviviruses. However, how NS1′ is made and what role it performs in the viral life cycle have not been determined. Here we provide experimental evidence that NS1′ is the product of a −1 ribosomal frameshift event that occurs at a conserved slippery heptanucleotide motif located near the beginning of the NS2A gene and is stimulated by a downstream RNA pseudoknot structure. Using site-directed mutagenesis of these sequence elements in an infectious clone of the Kunjin subtype of West Nile virus, we demonstrate that NS1′ plays a role in viral neuroinvasiveness