Transcription Regulatory Sequences in Coronaviruses: Mechanistic Foundations for Antivirals and Vaccines
Year: 2026
Type: review
Abstract: Coronaviruses employ a distinctive discontinuous transcription mechanism to generate a nested set of subgenomic mRNAs (sgRNAs) from a single large positive-strand RNA genome.Transcription regulatory sequences (TRSs)-comprising a leader TRS (TRS-L) near the 5′ end and multiple body TRSs (TRS-Bs) upstream of downstream open reading frames-serve as the primary cis-acting signals that direct polymerase pausing and template switching during negative-strand synthesis.The COVID-19 pandemic spurred intensive investigation of SARS-CoV-2 gene expression, yielding high-resolution transcriptome maps, genome-wide RNA structure data, and detailed structural models of the replicationtranscription complex (RTC).TRS function is therefore best understood as a multi-scale property determined not by the core motif alone, but by the integration of primarysequence complementarity, local RNA secondary structure, long-range RNA-RNA interactions, and RTC dynamics.This review provides an integrated view of TRS structurefunction relationships, with emphasis on how these features collectively shape sgRNA abundance, junction diversity, recombination potential, and prospects for diagnostic and antiviral applications, including vaccines and therapeutics.
Author: Jinjong Myoung
Institution: Jeonbuk National University
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Award: G2793290343
OpenAlex ID: W7222923372