Analysis of the Tomato spotted wilt virus ambisense S RNA-encoded hairpin structure in translation

The intergenic region (IR) of ambisense RNA segments from animal- and plant-infecting (-)RNA viruses functions as a bidirectional transcription terminator. The IR sequence of the Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) ambisense S RNA contains stretches that are highly rich in A-residues and U-residues and is predicted to fold into a stable hairpin structure. The presence of this hairpin structure sequence in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of TSWV mRNAs implies a possible role in translation