Article / Reconceptualizing transcriptional slippage in plant RNA viruses

Valli, A., Domingo-Calap, M.L., González de Prádena, A., García, J.A., Cui, H., Desbiez, C., López-Moya, J.J. (2024) Reconceptualizing transcriptional slippage in plant RNA viruses. mBio, e02120-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02120-24

Abstract: RNA viruses have evolved sophisticated strategies to exploit the limited encoded information within their typically compact genomes. One of them, named transcriptional slippage (TS), is characterized by the appearance of indels in nascent viral RNAs, leading to changes in the open reading frame (ORF). Although members of unrelated viral families express key proteins via TS, the available information about this phenomenon is still limited. In potyvirids (members of the Potyviridae family), TS has been defined by the insertion of an additional A at A_n motifs (n ≥ 6) in newly synthesized transcripts at a low frequency, modulated by nucleotides flanking the A-rich motif. Here, by using diverse experimental approaches and a collection of plant/virus combinations, we discover cases not following this definition. In summary, we observe (i) a high rate of single-nucleotide deletions at slippage motifs, (ii) overlapping ORFs acceded by slippage at an U₈ stretch, and (iii) changes in slippage rates induced by factors not related to cognate viruses. Moreover, a survey of whole-genome sequences from potyvirids shows a widespread occurrence of species-specific A_n/U_n (n ≥ 6) motifs. Even though many of them, but not all, lead to the production of truncated proteins rather than access to overlapping ORFs, these results suggest that slippage motifs appear more frequently than expected and play relevant roles during virus evolution. Considering the potential of this phenomenon to expand the viral proteome by acceding to overlapping ORFs and/or producing truncated proteins, a re-evaluation of TS significance during infections of RNA viruses is required.