Extended poly(A) tails are a shared feature of herpesvirus mRNAs
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Poly(A) tails are present on most cellular and viral mRNAs, providing a platform for poly(A)-binding proteins that stimulate translation and regulate the deadenylation and stability of transcripts in the cytoplasm. Here we leverage nanopore direct RNA sequencing to analyse the distribution of poly(A) tail lengths on cellular and viral mRNAs across Herpesviridae and other DNA and RNA virus infections. We find that herpesvirus mRNA poly(A) tails are consistently longer than those on cellular and other viral transcripts, presenting a previously unrecognized yet widespread mechanism to potentially advantage herpesviral gene expression. This contrasts with the templated poly(A) tails on coronavirus RNAs and those on cytoplasmically transcribed poxviral mRNAs, which are more similar in length to those on host mRNAs. Herpesviral noncoding RNAs display differential poly(A) tailing patterns while individual herpesviral mRNAs also show variation in the extent to which their poly(A) tail lengths change during the virus lifecycle, suggestive of additional uncharacterised layers of poly(A) tail length regulation. Importantly, while we detect non-adenosine nucleotides within herpesviral poly(A) tails, which are known to oppose deadenylase activity, this “mixed tailing” is not at sufficient frequency to explain the widespread extended tails of herpesvirus mRNAs.
Editor(s)
Karijolich, John
Date Issued
2026-06-16
Date Acceptance
2026-06-02
Citation
PLoS Pathogens, 2026, 22 (6)
ISSN
1553-7366
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Journal / Book Title
PLoS Pathogens
Volume
22
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2026 Fuhrmann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/42302084
PII: PPATHOGENS-D-26-00002
Subjects
RNA, Messenger
RNA, Viral
Poly A
Herpesviridae
Herpesviridae Infections
Humans
Gene Expression Regulation, Viral
Animals
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Article Number
e1014341
Date Publish Online
2026-06-16