The vast majority of plant and animal viruses have RNA genomes. Viral gene expression and replication are controlled by cis-acting elements in the viral genome, which have been viewed conventionally as localized structures. However, recent research has altered this perception and provided compelling evidence for cooperative activity involving distantly positioned RNA elements. This chapter focuses on viral RNA elements that interact across hundreds or thousands of intervening nucleotides to control translation, genomic RNA synthesis, and subgenomic mRNA transcription. We discuss evidence supporting the existence and function of the interactions, and speculate on the regulatory roles that such long-distance interactions play in the virus life cycle. We emphasize viruses in the Tombusviridae and Luteoviridae families in which long-distance interactions are best characterized, but similar phenomena in other viruses are also discussed. Many more examples likely remain undiscovered.

中文翻译：

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植物病毒基因表达和复制中的长距离RNA-RNA相互作用。

绝大多数动植物病毒都有RNA基因组。病毒基因的表达和复制受病毒基因组中的顺式作用元件控制，这些元件通常被视为局部结构。然而，最近的研究改变了这种看法，并为涉及远距离定位的RNA元件的合作活动提供了令人信服的证据。本章重点介绍跨数百或数千个插入核苷酸相互作用的病毒RNA元件，以控制翻译，基因组RNA合成和亚基因组mRNA转录。我们讨论了支持相互作用的存在和功能的证据，并推测了这种长距离相互作用在病毒生命周期中发挥的调节作用。我们着重介绍了长距离相互作用最能表征汤姆病毒科和黄病毒科的病毒，但同时也讨论了其他病毒的类似现象。可能还有更多的例子尚未发现。