The Role of Proteins in Vesicular Stomatitis Virus RNA Replication

Abstract

The negative-strand RNA genome of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) serves as template for two types of RNA-synthesis reactions, transcription and replication. A major distinction between the two RNA-synthesis processes is a requirement for protein synthesis. Transcription, the synthesis of the leader RNA and five discrete monocistronic messenger RNAs (mRNAs), does not require protein synthesis. Replication, the production of full-length copies of the viral RNA, requires continuous synthesis of viral proteins. This chapter will focus on the question of what newly synthesized protein or proteins are required to effect and maintain the transition from transcription to replication of the negative-strand RNA. Reviews of negative-strand virus RNA replication, including discussions of the nature of the template and specific sequences involved in replication, were presented by Wertz (1980), Lazzarini et al. (1981), and Ball and Wertz (1981). This chapter will concentrate on work that has been carried out since these previous reviews.