The Battle for Survival: The Role of RNA Non-Canonical Tails in the Virus–Host Interaction

Abstract

Terminal nucleotidyltransferases (TENTs) could generate a ‘mixed tail’ or ‘U-rich tail’ consisting of different nucleotides at the 3′ end of RNA by non-templated nucleotide addition to protect or degrade cellular messenger RNA. Recently, there has been increasing evidence that the decoration of virus RNA terminus with a mixed tail or U-rich tail is a critical way to affect viral RNA stability in virus-infected cells. This paper first briefly introduces the cellular function of the TENT family and non-canonical tails, then comprehensively reviews their roles in virus invasion and antiviral immunity, as well as the significance of the TENT family in antiviral therapy. This review will contribute to understanding the role and mechanism of non-canonical RNA tailing in survival competition between the virus and host.

The polyadenylation landscape afterin vivolong-term potentiation in the rat brain

“…We also noticed that non-adenosines are more common in longer tails (Supplementary Figure 5A), suggesting that they are inserted late by terminal nucleotidyltransferases (TENTs) in the cytoplasm 46–48 . The obvious candidates are TENT4A/B known for their incorporation of non-adenosines (Supplementary Figure 5B) 46–49 , which is supported by the fact that at the global level guanosine is most prevalent, followed by cytidine and uridine (Figure 5C, D), This contrasts with other experimental systems, where cytidine is the most common and guanosine the least common 19,23 . Notably, gene level analysis followed by closer inspection of Ninetails output and raw nanopore signals unveiled a subset of transcripts with tails significantly enriched in non-adenosines.…”

Revealing the hidden RBP–RNA interactions with RNA modification enzyme‐based strategies

“…Vertebrate TENT family can be sub-classified into non-canonical poly(A) polymerase (ncPAP) and terminal uridylyltransferase (TUTase) based on substrate preference for ATP or UTP. Some ncPAPs, like hTENT4A/4B, have broader substrate tolerance so generate A/G mixed-tailing (Lim et al, 2018;Wen et al, 2023). It was suggested to refer to all vertebrate ncPAPs and TUTases by their respective TENT family names in the updated nomenclature and they typically include NTD and PAP-associated domain (PAPd) but not RBD.…”

“…The mRNA and viral RNA are also the targets of TUTases in several organisms (Wen et al, 2023). The cellular mRNAs (Lim et al, 2014) and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) genomic RNAs with short A-tailed (<25 nt; Gupta et al, 2023), as well as the mRNAs of influenza A virus (IAV) are targeted by TUT4/7 for mono-/oligo-uridylation in mammals (Le Pen et al, 2018).…”