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| Hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site |
 |
| Type: |
Cis-reg; IRES; |
| 2° structure: |
Published; PubMed |
| Seed alignment: |
Griffiths-Jones SR |
| Avg length: |
206.5 nucleotides |
| Avg identity: |
90% |
|
Protein translation of most eukaryotic mRNAs requires association of Met-tRNA, several eukaryotic initiation factors, and GTP with the 40S ribosomal subunit. The ribosome can only bind the capped mRNA after binding the initiator tRNA. Translation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) mRNA is initiated by a different mechanism from the usual 5' cap-binding model.[1] This alternate mechanism relies on the direct binding of the 40S ribosomal subunit by the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in the 5' UTR of HCV RNA. HCV IRES adopts a complex structure, and may differ significantly from IRES elements identified in picornaviruses. A small number of eukaryotic mRNA have been shown to be translated by internal ribosome entry.[2][3]
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