Different effects of the TAR structure on HIV-1 and HIV-2 genomic RNA translation

R. Soto-Rifo (1, 2, 3) , T. Limousin (1, 2, 3) , P. Rubilar (1, 2, 3) , E. Ricci (1, 2, 3) , D. Decimo (1, 2, 3) , O. Moncorge (1, 2, 3) , M.-A. Trabaud (1, 2, 3) , P. André (1, 2, 3) , A. Cimarelli (1, 2, 3) , T. Ohlmann (1, 2, 3)

1 Virologie humaine
2 I2V - Immunité infection vaccination
3 HCL - Hospices Civils de Lyon

The 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) of the genomic RNA of human immunodeficiency viruses type-1 (HIV-1) and type-2 (HIV-2) is composed of highly structured RNA motifs essential for viral replication that are expected to interfere with Gag and Gag-Pol translation. Here, we have analyzed and compared the properties by which the viral 5′-UTR drives translation from the genomic RNA of both human immunodeficiency viruses. Our results showed that translation from the HIV-2 gRNA was very poor compared to that of HIV-1. This was rather due to the intrinsic structural motifs in their respective 5′-UTR without involvement of any viral protein. Further investigation pointed to a different role of TAR RNA, which was much inhibitory for HIV-2 translation. Altogether, these data highlight important structural and functional differences between these two human pathogens.

Mots clés: RNA

Domaines: Virologie

R. Soto-Rifo, T. Limousin, P. Rubilar, E. Ricci, D. Decimo, et al.. Different effects of the TAR structure on HIV-1 and HIV-2 genomic RNA translation. Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 40 (6), pp.2653-2667. ⟨10.1093/nar/gkr1093⟩. ⟨hal-02322778⟩