[Studies on the subgenomic RNAs of hepatitis E virus]

Through labeling HEV RNAs with [32P]-phosphate, two subgenomic RNAs at 6.5 to 7.5 h post-infection, one subgenomic RNA at 8.5 to 10.5 h post-infection and none subgenomic RNAs were detected at 21 post-infection or in purified virus. Hybridization results illustrated that the HEV subgenomic RNAs form a 3' nested set which is situated at the 3' end of genome, but their 5' ends do not share a common leader sequence. UV transcription results showed that the HEV subgenomic RNAs were transcribed independently from its promote. Primer extension analysis suggested that the 5' end of large subgenomic RNA was mapped to the initiative region within RNA polymerase region, and the small subgenomic RNA was mapped to the intergenic region between ORF1 and ORF2.