A virus-induced specialised ribosome

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Ribosomes are complex molecular machines present in all cellular organisms. They are responsible for producing proteins by converting the instructions found in messenger RNA (mRNA) into the chains of amino-acids that make up proteins. Eukaryotic ribosomes are composed of two subunits, termed 60S and 40S, which are composed of ribosomal RNAs and multiple (~80) ribosomal proteins. The process to make ribosomes in the cell is highly complex and coordinated requiring lots of additional ribosome assembly factors which have specific roles in their production.It has long been thought that all ribosomes in the cell are the same, playing a critical role in protein production but having little influence on controlling the process. However, emerging evidence suggests that subpopulations of ribosomes may exist, which can control which mRNAs are translated into proteins. These so called specialised ribosomes could have fundamental regulatory functions within the cell. A major question now relates to how a subpopulation of specialised ribosomes could be produced in a cell and one possibility is that the composition of ribosomal proteins which make up the 40S and 60S subunits could be altered, changing the regulatory function or specificity of these ribosomes.We have exciting preliminary data suggesting that viruses have evolved ways to control the production of ribosomes in the infected cell. This would produce a virus-induced specialised ribosome which could control how viral and perhaps cellular mRNAs are translated in infected cells, enhancing virus replication and virion production. We have demonstrated that during herpesvirus infection, some ribosomal proteins are prevented from being involved in producing 40S and 60S subunits, whilst other ribosomal protein levels are increased. This suggests that the composition of ribosomal proteins may be altered during infection. In addition, we have identified a viral protein and novel mechanism of how this may be achieved in infected cells.We now aim to further investigate these observations and identify what effect viral manipulation of ribosome biogenesis has upon the composition of specialised ribosomes in infected cells and how these changes affect the translation of cellular and viral mRNAs using a global approach called ribosomal profiling. Moreover, we will investigate what effect altering the composition of ribosomes has upon the replication cycle of the virus. Furthermore, we will assess essential virus-host cell interactions which are required for the production of these viral-induced specialised ribosomes which may provide new strategies for the production of novel antiviral reagents for this important family of pathogens.