Priming and realignment by the influenza a virus RdRp is dependent on the length of the host primers and the extent of base pairing to viral RNA

Abstract

Initiation of influenza A virus (IAV) transcription depends on RNA primers derived from host RNAs. During this process, some primers are elongated by a few nucleotides, realigned on the viral RNA templates (vRNA), and then used to initiate another round of transcription. Here, we used information on the host primers used by four IAV strains and four mini-replicons to investigate the characteristics of primer undergoing priming and realignment. We report that primers are biased towards this mechanism on the basis of length and RNA duplex stability with the vRNA templates. Priming and realignment results in primers three nucleotides longer, ending in a nucleotide sequence able to base pair with the 3' end of the vRNA template. By acting on primers based on length and sequence compatibility with the 3' end of the vRNA, priming and realignment rescues suboptimal primers, converting them into ones that can efficiently initiate transcription.

Keywords: Cap-snatching; Capped host primer profiling; Influenza A virus; Prime-and-realign mechanism; Viral transcription.