AUTHOR=Amen Melanie A., Griffiths Anthony 

TITLE=Packaging of Non-Coding RNAs into Herpesvirus Virions: Comparisons to Coding RNAs

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2011

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2011.00081

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2011.00081

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>The herpesviruses are a family of large DNA viruses capable of establishing lifelong infections. Recent reports have shown that herpesviruses package non-coding RNA into virions; this follows earlier observations showing that coding RNAs are detected in virions. Packaging RNAs allows for their function immediately after virus entry and in the absence of <italic>de novo</italic> transcription. Despite the collective understanding that RNAs are packaged into herpesvirus virions, many questions remain. This review will highlight what is known regarding packaged coding and non-coding RNAs and discuss their potential impact to virus biology.</p>