Hill Lab, University of York

Molecular mechanisms of viral gene expression

Viruses do things differently

RNA viruses rely on highly structured RNA molecules to control every stage of their replication cycles. Far from acting simply as carriers of genetic information, viral RNAs adopt complex three-dimensional folds that interact with ribosomes, viral enzymes and host proteins to regulate protein synthesis, genome replication and the assembly of new virus particles. Understanding how these dynamic RNA-protein complexes function is central to explaining how viruses replicate, evolve and cause disease.

We're trying to better understand these events at a molecular level.

Latest Publications

Preprint: Structural and mechanistic insights into translation initiation on the enterovirus Type 1 IRES

Here, we reconstitute human translation initiation on the poliovirus Type 1 IRES and examine 48S complexes by cryo-electron microscopy. Our structures reveal how IRES domain IVc contacts ribosomal proteins uS19 and uS13, whilst a conserved GNRA tetraloop engages with the initiator tRNA during start-codon recognition. Disruption of these interfaces impairs IRES-dependent translation and viral replication. Together, our results define the structural and molecular basis for initiation on the Type 1 IRES, and reveal conserved RNA–RNA interactions critical for enterovirus translation.

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Department of Biology

University of York

Wentworth Way

York

United Kingdom

YO10 5DD

Contact

+44 (0)1904 328688

chris.hill@york.ac.uk