Transcription Regulatory Sequences in Coronaviruses: Mechanistic Foundations for Antivirals and Vaccines.
- 1Korea Zoonosis Research Institute, Department of Bioactive Material Science and Genetic Engineering Research Institute, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54531, Republic of Korea.
Abstract
Coronaviruses employ a distinctive discontinuous transcription mechanism to generate a nested set of subgenomic mRNAs (sgRNAs) from a single large positive-strand RNA genome. Transcription regulatory sequences (TRSs)-comprising a leader TRS (TRS-L) near the 5' end and multiple body TRSs (TRS-Bs) upstream of downstream open reading frames-serve as the primary cis-acting signals that direct polymerase pausing and template switching during negative-strand synthesis. The COVID-19 pandemic spurred intensive investigation of SARS-CoV-2 gene expression, yielding high-resolution transcriptome maps, genome-wide RNA structure data, and detailed structural models of the replication-transcription complex (RTC). TRS function is therefore best understood as a multi-scale property determined not by the core motif alone, but by the integration of primary-sequence complementarity, local RNA secondary structure, long-range RNA-RNA interactions, and RTC dynamics. This review provides an integrated view of TRS structure-function relationships, with emphasis on how these features collectively shape sgRNA abundance, junction diversity, recombination potential, and prospects for diagnostic and antiviral applications, including vaccines and therapeutics.
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BibTeX
@article{myoung2026transcription,
title = {{Transcription Regulatory Sequences in Coronaviruses: Mechanistic Foundations for Antivirals and Vaccines.}},
author = {Jinjong Myoung},
journal = {Journal of microbiology and biotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.4014/jmb.2609.09039},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894965},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Transcription Regulatory Sequences in Coronaviruses: Mechanistic Foundations for Antivirals and Vaccines.
AU - Jinjong Myoung
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - Journal of microbiology and biotechnology
DO - 10.4014/jmb.2609.09039
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42894965
AB - Coronaviruses employ a distinctive discontinuous transcription mechanism to generate a nested set of subgenomic mRNAs (sgRNAs) from a single large positive-strand RNA genome. Transcription regulatory sequences (TRSs)-comprising a leader TRS (TRS-L) near the 5' end and multiple body TRSs (TRS-Bs) upstream of downstream open reading frames-serve as the primary cis-acting signals that direct polymerase pausing and template switching during negative-strand synthesis. The COVID-19 pandemic spurred intensive investigation of SARS-CoV-2 gene expression, yielding high-resolution transcriptome maps, genome-wide RNA structure data, and detailed structural models of the replication-transcription complex (RTC). TRS function is therefore best understood as a multi-scale property determined not by the core motif alone, but by the integration of primary-sequence complementarity, local RNA secondary structure, long-range RNA-RNA interactions, and RTC dynamics. This review provides an integrated view of TRS structure-function relationships, with emphasis on how these features collectively shape sgRNA abundance, junction diversity, recombination potential, and prospects for diagnostic and antiviral applications, including vaccines and therapeutics.
SN - 1017-7825
SN - 1738-8872
ER -