Interactions between brome mosaic virus RNAs and cytoplasmic processing bodies
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Simple and Robust in vivo and in vitro Approach for Studying Virus Assembly
Published on: March 1, 2012
Carla J Beckham1, Heather R Light, T Amar Nissan
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0206, USA.
Abstract:
Cytoplasmic processing bodies are sites where nontranslating mRNAs accumulate for different fates, including decapping and degradation, storage, or returning to translation. Previous work has also shown that the Lsm1-7p complex, Dhh1p, and Pat1p, which are all components of P bodies, are required for translation and subsequent recruitment to replication of the plant virus brome mosaic virus (BMV) genomic RNAs when replication is reproduced in yeast cells. To better understand the role of P bodies in BMV replication, we examined the subcellular locations of BMV RNAs in yeast cells. We observed that BMV genomic RNA2 and RNA3 accumulated in P bodies in a manner dependent on cis-acting RNA replication signals, which also directed nonviral RNAs to P bodies. Furthermore, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase coimmunoprecipitates and shows partial colocalization with the P-body component Lsm1p. These observations suggest that the accumulation of BMV RNAs in P bodies may be an important step in RNA replication complex assembly for BMV, and possibly for other positive-strand RNA viruses.
Related Concept Videos
Retrovirus Life Cycles
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Inhibitors of Virion Maturation and Assembly
Intralumenal Vesicles and Multivesicular Bodies
Leaky Scanning
Intracellular Movement of Viruses and Bacteria

