An Investigation on the Effects of Influenza Virus Infection as It Pertains to the Initiation of Translation
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: Like the majority of host cell mRNAs, the mRNAs of influenza virus are capped and polyadenylated. The NS1 protein of influenza has been implicated as a translational activator for both influenza and reporter gene mRNAs. Data is presented showing that influenza A virus infection resulted in an increased ratio of cap-dependent to cap-independent translation. This ratio increase was largely due to an increase in cap-dependent translation. These experiments employed a bicistronic reporter construct measuring cap-dependent and cap-independent translation in a single sample. Expression of NS1 alone resulted in a small, but reproducible increase in the ratio of cap-dependent to cap-independent translation. Additionally, with use of an NS1 deleted mutant influenza A virus (delNS1) it is shown that infection without NS1 expression produced less of a translation ratio increase compared to wild-type virus infection. Furthermore, expression of NS1 rescued a more wild-type ratio increase in delNS1 infected Vero cells. These results implicate NS1 as playing a role in increasing the ratio of cap-dependent to cap-independent translation in influenza A virus infected cells. Additionally, eIF4E-binding protein-1 (4E-BP1), a member of the protein family that inhibits cap-dependent translation through their inhibition of the cap-binding protein, eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), is shown to be inactivated throughout the majority of the influenza A virus infection process.
Author: Morgan H. McCoy
Institution: University of Kentucky
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1565151357