Role for poliovirus protease 2A in cap independent translation

Viral protein synthesis in poliovirus infected cells was found to be influenced by mutations in part of the viral 5'-non-coding region (NCR) in a temperature dependent manner. At elevated temperatures these mutations resulted in virus titre reductions that allowed selection of revertant viruses. Some revertants were found to have retained the 5'-NCR mutations but had compensating mutations in the 2A protease gene that were responsible for the suppression of the temperature sensitive phenotypes. The mutations in 2A enhanced viral protein synthesis at a stage when cap dependent translation was already abolished, suggesting that the virally encoded protein 2A is directly involved in the process of cap independent translation in addition to its role in abolishing cap dependent translation.