Decoding human cytomegalovirus.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23180859.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.1227919 and PMC identifier 3817102.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) genome was sequenced 20 years ago. However, like those of other complex viruses, our understanding of its protein coding potential is far from complete. We used ribosome profiling and transcript analysis to experimentally define the HCMV translation products and follow their temporal expression. We identified hundreds of previously unidentified open reading frames and confirmed a fraction by means of mass spectrometry. We found that regulated use of alternative transcript start sites plays a broad role in enabling tight temporal control of HCMV protein expression and allowing multiple distinct polypeptides to be generated from a single genomic locus. Our results reveal an unanticipated complexity to the HCMV coding capacity and illustrate the role of regulated changes in transcript start sites in generating this complexity.
Medical subject headings
- Alternative Splicing
- Cytomegalovirus
- Cytomegalovirus/genetics
- Cytomegalovirus Infections
- Cytomegalovirus Infections/virology
- Genetic Variation
- Genome, Viral
- Humans
- Open Reading Frames
- Protein Biosynthesis
- Protein Biosynthesis/genetics
- Proteome
- Proteome/genetics
- Sequence Analysis, DNA
- Transcription, Genetic