Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Simple and Robust in vivo and in vitro Approach for Studying Virus Assembly
Published on: March 1, 2012
Long-distance RNA-RNA interactions in plant virus gene expression and replication
W Allen Miller1, K Andrew White
1Plant Pathology Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA. wamiller@iastate.edu
Abstract:
The vast majority of plant and animal viruses have RNA genomes. Viral gene expression and replication are controlled by cis-acting elements in the viral genome, which have been viewed conventionally as localized structures. However, recent research has altered this perception and provided compelling evidence for cooperative activity involving distantly positioned RNA elements. This chapter focuses on viral RNA elements that interact across hundreds or thousands of intervening nucleotides to control translation, genomic RNA synthesis, and subgenomic mRNA transcription. We discuss evidence supporting the existence and function of the interactions, and speculate on the regulatory roles that such long-distance interactions play in the virus life cycle. We emphasize viruses in the Tombusviridae and Luteoviridae families in which long-distance interactions are best characterized, but similar phenomena in other viruses are also discussed. Many more examples likely remain undiscovered.
Related Concept Videos
Subviral Agents
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
lncRNA - Long Non-coding RNAs
siRNA - Small Interfering RNAs
In the cytoplasm, siRNA is processed from a double-stranded RNA, which comes from either endogenous DNA transcription or exogenous sources like a virus. This double-stranded RNA is then cleaved by the ATP-dependent...
Inhibitors Of Virion Release

