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Virus‐specific capping of tobacco mosaic virus RNA: methylation of GTP prior to formation of covalent complex p126‐m 7 GMP
Author(s) -
Merits Andres,
Kettunen Reetta,
Mäkinen Kristiina,
Lampio Anja,
Auvinen Petri,
Kääriäinen Leevi,
Ahola Tero
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(99)00856-x
Subject(s) - tobacco mosaic virus , gtp' , covalent bond , methylation , chemistry , rna , guanine , virus , cowpea mosaic virus , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , nucleotide , virology , biology , enzyme , dna , gene , organic chemistry
In capping cellular mRNAs, a covalent GMP‐enzyme intermediate leads to formation of G(5′)ppp(5′)N at the 5′ end of the RNA, which is modified by methylation catalyzed by guanine‐7‐methyltransferase. Here we show that isolated membranes from tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)‐infected plant or insect cells expressing TMV replicase protein p126, synthesized m 7 GTP using S ‐adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) as the methyl donor, and catalyzed the formation of a covalent guanylate‐p126 complex in the presence of AdoMet. The methyl group from AdoMet was incorporated into p126, suggesting that the complex consisted of m 7 GMP‐p126. Thus, TMV and alphaviruses, despite their evolutionary distance, share the same virus‐specific capping mechanism.