Nature Communications (Jul 2018)

microRNA-122 amplifies hepatitis C virus translation by shaping the structure of the internal ribosomal entry site

  • Philipp Schult,
  • Hanna Roth,
  • Rebecca L. Adams,
  • Caroline Mas,
  • Lionel Imbert,
  • Christian Orlik,
  • Alessia Ruggieri,
  • Anna M. Pyle,
  • Volker Lohmann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05053-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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The liver-specific microRNA-122 is an essential proviral host factor of Hepatitis C virus replication. Here the authors show that microRNA-122 functions as an RNA chaperone that guides the formation of a functional internal ribosome entry site by preventing energetically more favorable secondary structures within the HCV RNA genome.