A N7-guanine RNA cap methyltransferase signature-sequence as a genetic marker of large genome, non-mammalian Tobaniviridae
Abstract
The order Nidovirales is a diverse group of (+)RNA viruses, classified together based on their common genome organisation and conserved replicative enzymes , despite drastic differences in size and complexity. One such difference pertains to the mechanisms and enzymes responsible for generation of the proposed viral 5 RNA cap. Within the Coronaviri-dae family, two separate methytransferases (MTase), nsp14 and nsp16, perform the RNA-cap N7-guanine and 2-OH methylation respectively for generation of the proposed m7GpppNm type I cap structure. For the majority of other families within the Nidovirales order, the presence, structure and key enzymes involved in 5 capping are far less clear. These viruses either lack completely an RNA MTase signature sequence , or lack an N7-guanine methyltransferase signature sequence, obscuring our understanding about how RNA-caps are N7-methylated for these families. Here, we report the discovery of a puta-tive Rossmann fold RNA methyltransferase in 10 To-baniviridae members in Orf1a, an unusual genome locus for this gene. Multiple sequence alignments and structural analyses lead us to propose this novel gene as a typical RNA-cap N7-guanine MTase with substrate specificity and active-site organization similar to the canonical eukaryotic RNA-cap N7-guanine MTase.
Domains
Virology
Origin : Publication funded by an institution
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