Functional interplay between viral and cellular SR proteins in control of post-transcriptional gene regulation

Viruses take advantage of cellular machineries to facilitate their gene expression in the host. SR proteins, a superfamily of cellular precursor mRNA splicing factors, contain a domain consisting of repetitive arginine/serine dipeptides, termed the RS domain. The authentic RS domain or variants can also be found in some virus-encoded proteins. Viral proteins may act through their own RS domain or through interaction with cellular SR proteins to facilitate viral gene expression. Numerous lines of evidence indicate that cellular SR proteins are important for regulation of viral RNA splicing and participate in other steps of post-transcriptional viral gene expression control. Moreover, viral infection may alter the expression levels or modify the phosphorylation status of cellular SR proteins and thus perturb cellular precursor mRNA splicing. We review our current understanding of the interplay between virus and host in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression via RS domain-containing proteins.