The Highly Structured Encapsidation Signal of MuLV RNA is Involved in the Nuclear Export of its Unspliced RNA

The encapsidation signal (Psi) of retroviruses is located in the 5′ UTR of the viral genomic unspliced transcript and is highly structured. In the Psi of murine leukaemia virus (MuLV), four stem–loops, called A, B, C and D, promote dimerization and encapsidation of the MuLV unspliced RNA into virions. Through analysis of Psi-deleted transcripts, we found that the AB and CD motifs independently enhanced the cytoplasmic accumulation of RNAs. Furthermore, we showed that over-expression of the Psi sequence in the infected cells led to a competition with the nuclear export of unspliced MuLV transcripts, revealing a new function for these stem–loops in the transport of viral intron-containing RNAs from the nucleus to the cytoplasm.