Enzymatic and control functions of reovirus structural proteins.

Abstract

Viruses have evolved in many diverse ways in order to utilize efficiently their limited genetic information and successfully overcome the various defense mechanisms of different hosts. For the multisegmented dsRNA-containing reoviruses, this has apparently been accomplished at the level of the structural proteins rather than the mRNA. In reovirus infections, only full-length, unspliced viral mRNA are produced and, with one exception, each contains a single translational open reading frame. However, most, if not all, of the virion structural proteins also have enzymatic activities and/or other functions that are essential in the reovirus life cycle (Table 1). This structural protein pleiotropy is summarized in this chapter, which is based on the many studies that have correlated virion proteins with functional activities and assigned them to specific reovirus genome segments.