Intertwined Gene Regulation: Cellular RNA and Viral RNA Genome Biology

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About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

  1. Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline 18 February 2025 | Manuscript Submission Deadline 8 June 2025

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Background

Post-transcriptional RNA processing, translation, and decay play crucial roles in cellular gene expression, influencing protein quantity, diversity, and localization within the cell. These processes also modulate the cell's response to stress and pathogenic infections. Messenger RNAs are protected from degradation and facilitate protein synthesis through capping at their 5’ ends and polyadenylation at their 3’ ends. Splicing removes introns, enhancing transcript diversity and expanding the protein repertoire in cells. RNA modifications like methylation and editing further contribute to transcript diversity, stability, and precise gene expression regulation. RNA viruses exploit these processes during infection to enhance viral gene expression and evade host antiviral responses.

RNA viruses are adept at initiating protein synthesis or transcription immediately upon infecting host cells. They counteract cellular translation suppression employing noncanonical translation initiation mechanisms and evade degradation by usurping cellular RNA modification pathways. To counter cellular defenses, RNA viruses disrupt cellular gene expression, leading to widespread mRNA decay and facilitating uninterrupted viral replication. Fundamentally, viral RNA genome biology is intertwined with cellular RNA biology, hence shedding light on one will undoubtedly uncover the other.

This interdisciplinary research topic aims to gather insights into how cellular and RNA viral gene regulation is profoundly impacted during viral infections. Research contributions spanning biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics are sought to reveal RNA processing, editing, translation, and decay pathways that highlight the intricate interplay between viral genomes and host cellular machinery.

The Research Topic aims to collect Original Research, Brief Research Reports, Methods, Perspectives, Reviews, and Mini-Review articles dedicated to demonstrating host and viral RNA-dependent pathways, including (but not limited to) the following topics:

· RNA capping, splicing, polyadenylation and modification events that are co-opted by RNA viruses, and/or how viruses manipulate these global cellular RNA processes to inhibit antiviral responses.

· Host RNA editing processes co-opted by viruses, and/or how cells recognize these edited viral RNAs during the innate immune response.

· Cellular strategies cells use to downregulate protein synthesis during infection, and/or how RNA viruses bypass these mechanisms to express viral genes using noncanonical translation initiation processes, viral frameshifting, and reinitiation.

· Host RNA decay and interference pathways that are subverted or bypassed by RNA viruses.

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  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective
  • Review
  • Technology and Code

Keywords: gene regulation, gene expression, RNA virus-host interactions

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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