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World J Virol. Aug 12, 2013; 2(3): 123-135
Published online Aug 12, 2013. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v2.i3.123
Published online Aug 12, 2013. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v2.i3.123
Searching for nuclear export elements in hepatitis D virus RNA
Natália Freitas, Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Immunology, Kansas University Medical Center, Rainbow Boulevard, Kansa, KS 66160, United States
Celso Cunha, Medical Microbiology Unit, Center for Malaria and Tropical Diseases, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Nova University of Lisbon, 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal
Author contributions: Freitas N designed and performed experiments, interpreted the results and helped draft the manuscript; Cunha C designed the experiments, interpreted the results and wrote the manuscript.
Supported by A grant from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal to Freitas N
Correspondence to: Celso Cunha, PhD, Medical Microbiology Unit, Center for Malaria and Tropical Diseases, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Nova University of Lisbon, Rua da Junqueira, 100, 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal. ccunha@ihmt.unl.pt
Telephone: +35-121-3652620 Fax: +35-121-3632105
Received: May 7, 2013
Revised: July 26, 2013
Accepted: August 8, 2013
Published online: August 12, 2013
Revised: July 26, 2013
Accepted: August 8, 2013
Published online: August 12, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: Hepatitis D virus (HDV) replicates in the nucleus and export of HDV RNPs to the cytoplasm is thought to be mediated by cis-elements present in virus RNA. We used a chloramphenicol acetyl-transferase reporter system in an attempt to identify the RNA sequences that mediate export to the cytoplasm. Several cDNA constructs coding for different HDV RNA (genomic and antigenomic) sequences were tested. Our results show that a cis-acting nuclear export element is present in positions 214-417 of antigenomic RNA. Two regions in genomic RNA were found to promote nuclear export with efficiency higher than the negative control although lower that the positive control.