Hepatitis C alternative reading frame stem-loop is a conserved

secondary structure Protein secondary structure is the three dimensional conformational isomerism, form of ''local segments'' of proteins. The two most common Protein structure#Secondary structure, secondary structural elements are alpha helix, alpha helices and beta ...

motif identified in the

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

genome of the

Hepatitis C virus The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a small (55–65 nm in size), enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family ''Flaviviridae''. The hepatitis C virus is the cause of hepatitis C and some cancers such as liver cancer ( hepato ...

(HCV) which is proposed to have an important role in regulating

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

and repression of the viral genome. The core protein-coding region of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome contains a +1 alternative

reading frame In molecular biology, a reading frame is a way of dividing the nucleic acid sequence, sequence of nucleotides in a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) molecule into a set of consecutive, non-overlapping triplets. Where these triplets equate to amino acids or ...

(ARF) and two proposed phylogenetically conserved RNA helix-forming

stem loop Stem-loop intramolecular base pairing is a pattern that can occur in single-stranded RNA. The structure is also known as a hairpin or hairpin loop. It occurs when two regions of the same strand, usually complementary in nucleotide sequence when ...

structures ( IV and

VII VII or vii may refer to: the Roman numeral 7 Art and entertainment * The Vii, a video game console * vii, leading-tone triad, see diminished triad * ''VII'' (Blitzen Trapper album) * ''VII'' (Just-Ice album) * ''VII'' (Teyana Taylor album) * ...

). The proteins translated from the ARF appear to be translated during the normal viral life cycle but are not essential to virus replication. The two predicted stem loops shown here (SLV and SLVI) are proposed to be important for HCV translation and repression; these stem loops are located downstream of the

Internal ribosome entry site An internal ribosome entry site, abbreviated IRES, is an RNA element that allows for translation initiation in a cap-independent manner, as part of the greater process of protein synthesis. In eukaryotic translation, initiation typically occurs at t ...

(IRES) but their functional role is unknown.

References

External links

* Cis-regulatory RNA elements Hepatitis C virus {{molecular-cell-biology-stub

See also

References

External links