Title: How structure determines HIV-1 RNA fate: A tale of two Gs

 

HIV-1 is a retrovirus that packages two copies of unspliced viral RNA as a dimer into newly budding virions to serve as the genome. The unspliced viral RNA also serves as an mRNA template for translation of two polyproteins. Recent studies suggest that the fate of the viral RNA (genome versus mRNA) is determined at the level of transcription. RNA polymerase II uses heterogeneous transcription start sites to generate major transcripts that differ in only two guanosines at the 5ʹ end. Remarkably, this two-nucleotide difference is sufficient to alter the structure of the 5ʹ-untranslated region and generate two RNA pools with distinct functions. The presence of both RNA species is needed for optimal viral replication and fitness. In this talk, I will discuss our recent progress on determining the mechanism by which a two-nucleotide difference in a 9.2 kilobase RNA dictates its fate.

           

Karin Musier-Forsyth obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1989 under the direction of Dr. Gordon G. Hammes. She was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Paul Schimmel at M.I.T. from 1989-92. She joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1992. She was named Merck Professor of Chemistry in 2003 and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in 2006. In 2007, she moved to her current position at Ohio State University, where she is the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Biological Macromolecular Structure and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She was awarded the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 1996, the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the Biological Division of the American Chemical Society in 2003 and was Elected as AAAS Fellow in 2009. In 2014 she was awarded the William H. Kadel Alumni Medal for Outstanding Career Achievement from her alma mater, Eckerd College and received the Carlos F. Barbas III Alumni Award in 2024. In 2020 she was a co-recipient of the Diversity Enhancement Faculty Award from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio State. She has served as co-director of the NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Program at Ohio State since 2011 and was appointed Director of the Center for RNA Biology at OSU (2023). She has published over 220 peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters and reviews and has served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry since 2018.