Temporal regulation of adenovirus major late alternative RNA splicing

Adenovirus makes extensive use of alternative RNA splicing to produce a complex set of spliced mRNAs during replication. The accumulation of viral mRNAs is subjected to a temporal regulation, a mechanism that ensures that proteins that are needed at certain stages of the virus life cycle are produced in a timely fashion. The complex interactions between the virus and the host cell RNA splicing machinery has been studied in detail during the last decade. These studies have resulted in the characterization of two viral proteins, E4-ORF4 and L4-33K, that adenovirus uses to remodel the host cell RNA splicing machinery. Here I will review the current knowledge of how mRNA expression from the adenovirus major late transcription unit is controlled with a particular emphasis on how cis-acting sequence element, trans-acting factors and mechanisms regulating adenovirus major late L1 alternative RNA splicing is controlled.