Novel classes of replication-associated transcripts discovered in viruses.

The role of RNA molecules in the priming of DNA replication and in providing a template for telomerase extension has been known for decades. Since then, several transcripts have been discovered, which play diverse roles in governing replication, including regulation of RNA primer formation, the recruitment of replication origin (Ori) recognition complex, and the assembly of replication fork. Recent studies on viral transcriptomes have revealed novel classes of replication-associated (ra)RNAs, which are expressed from the genomic locations in close vicinity to the Ori. Many of them overlap the Ori, whereas others are terminated close to the replication origin. These novel transcripts can be both protein-coding and non-coding RNAs. The Ori-overlapping part of the mRNAs is generally either the 5'-untranslated regions (UTRs), or the 3'-UTRs of the longer isoforms. Several raRNAs have been identified in various viral families using primarily third-generation long-read sequencing. Hyper-editing of these transcripts has also been described.

DNA replication

The first step of eukaryotic DNA replication is the identification of replication origin (Ori) through the origin recognition complex (ORC), which is a multi-subunit structure composed of Orc1-6p [1]. ORC serves as a landing platform for the assembly of the replication forks. The unwinding of the double stranded DNA molecule into two single strands is initiated at the Ori. This process is carried out by the DNA helicase, an enzyme disrupting the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs of the complementary DNA strands. While the bacterial genome contains a single Ori, the replication of eukaryotic DNA molecule is initiated at hundreds of thousands points. Depending on the species, viruses have a single or a few Oris. DNA viruses usually code for proteins that are responsible for viral DNA replication [2-4]. However, in some cases, such as the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) during latency, viruses can use the host replication proteins for viral DNA synthesis [5]. The replication fork is the site for the assembly of the replisome, a complex structure composed of the DNA polymerase (DNP), DNA helicase, topoisomerase, primase, DNA gyrase, DNA ligase, and telomerase among others. First, a short (11 ± 1bp long) RNA sequence is synthesized by the primase enzyme, then this transcript is removed by an endonuclease, which is followed by the elongation with the DNP away from the origin of replication. Due to the 5ʹ to 3ʹ directionality of the DNA synthesis, the leading strand is continuously extended, whereas the lagging strand is synthesized discontinuously from multiple RNA primers. The resulting Okazaki fragments are joined together by the DNA ligase forming a single unified strand. In E. coli the termination of DNA replication occurs at specific consensus sequences and results in the disassembly of the replisome [6], while termination in eukaryotes is mostly not sequence specific [7]. Since eukaryotes have linear DNA molecules, the DNP is unable to synthesize the very ends of the chromosomes (telomeres), and it leads to the shortening of telomeres in each replication cycle. Telomeres act as protective caps to prevent chromosomal integrity. In germ-line cells and in stem cells the telomerase enzyme catalyzes the repair of the telomere sequences by carrying a short complementary RNA molecule used for the priming of this process.

Replication-associated transcripts in prokaryotes and eukaryotes

The genomes of eukaryotic organisms are mostly comprised of non-coding DNA. Transcriptomic studies have revealed that the major parts of these genomic regions are transcriptionally active, producing non-protein coding RNAs (ncRNAs) [8]. These transcripts possess a wide range of functionality at practically all levels of the genetic regulation, including epigenetics, transcription, and post-transcriptional processes [9]. Evidence is also emerging that certain ncRNAs participate in the regulation of DNA replication. Besides the RNA primers and the telomerase RNA component – which were discovered decades ago, many replication-associated (ra)RNAs have been identified in the past few years. A recent genome-wide analysis has demonstrated that 72% of mammalian ORC1s are associated with active promoters, 46.5% of which controls the expression of protein coding genes, whereas 53.5% controls ncRNA genes [10].

Regulation of RNA primer synthesis by raRNAs

The vast majority of bacterial plasmids encode the Rep protein, the function of which is to separate the two DNA strands at the Ori region [11]. An alternative mechanism based on the regulation of replication by ncRNAs has been demonstrated in a few cases. It has been shown that the Ori region of ColE1 plasmids of Enterobacteriaceae encodes two ncRNAs: RNA I and RNA II [12,13]. RNA II acts as a pre-primer by hybridizing with the DNA followed by being processed with RNase H. The resulted RNA fragments tend to initiate the synthesis of the leader DNA strand. RNA I is complementary to a short region of RNA II, and functions as a modulator of RNA II by binding to it, and thereby preventing the formation of RNA II/DNA hybrid that is needed for the initiation of replication. Besides the ColE1 family, a very similar RNA-mediated replication initiation mechanism has also been described in the marine RNA-based (MRB) plasmid family of Vibrionaceae [14]. Intriguingly, the sequences of MRB RNA I and RNA II transcripts are evolutionarily unrelated to those of ColE1-regulatory transcripts.

Inhibition of Rep synthesis by raRNAs

The expression of Rep protein itself is regulated in order to control the copy number of the plasmids. The R1 plasmids use, among others, an antisense RNA, termed CopA, for this control. CopA acts at the post-transcriptional level through binding RepA mRNA. The resultant double-stranded RNA is digested by RNase III, thereby preventing RepA synthesis [15]. Antisense RNAs also participate in the control of replication in ColIb-p9 plasmids. For the efficient translation of Rep protein, a pseudoknot has to be formed on the Rep mRNA. The Inc RNA has a complementary structure to the Rep mRNA, and therefore, it can block the replication through hybridization to the Rep mRNA [16].

raRNAs mediate ORC recruitment to the Ori

The mechanism of ORC recruitment to the Ori in eukaryotes varies in the different species. The ORC lacks sequence-specific DNA binding motives (except in yeast [17]), and so far, it has been unclear what factors control ORC binding to the DNA. One of the candidates are the non-coding raRNAs as they can provide sequence-specificity for the origin formation. In the protozoa Tetrahymena thermophile ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is amplified ~9,000 times during development. The 26T RNA has been shown to mediate the recruitment of ORC to the Ori region during the rDNA amplification through base pairing with the rDNA Ori [18]. It has also been demonstrated in mammalian systems that G-rich RNA mediates ORC recruitment to telomeres and to AT-rich heterochromatin [19,20]. Vertebrate genomes express the evolutionarily conserved Y RNAs, which are non-coding stem-loop transcripts, and they play a role in the initiation of replication [21,22]. The precise mechanism through which Y RNAs mediate their effects is unknown at present; however, it has been shown that these transcripts are recruited to the chromatin by the ORC.

Replication control by miRNAs

In addition to the above mechanisms, microRNAs (miRNAs) have also been described to control DNA replication through fine-tuning this process. The miRNAs normally target the complementary mRNAs for translational repression or degradation. For example, in human cells, miR-29a targets the mRNA of Cdc7/Dbf4 kinase, which plays an essential role in the initiation of DNA replication. DNA damage leads to the up-regulation of Cdc7/Dbf4, which is accompanied by the repression of miR-29a in order to maximize the efficiency of repair processes [23].

Replication-associated RNAs in viruses

Replication-associated transcripts have also been identified in viruses. For example, a small replication-regulating (sr)RNA has been recently described in human BK polyomavirus (BKV) isolated from murine mammary tumor cells [24]. This transcript binds simultaneously to both sense and antisense DNA strands within the Ori region of the virus. The srRNA dramatically inhibits the replication of the poliovirus through interfering with the RNA primer synthesis, which changes the structure of the initiation complex even when the regulatory RNA is ectopically expressed in human cells [24]. BKV has an additional RNA-based mechanism for the control of replication: a miRNA targets the mRNA of the large T antigen during the early stage of infection that helps to establish persistence in the host cells [25]. Another example for the viral raRNAs is a highly structured GC-rich transcript of EBV, the function of which is to help for the viral proteins EBNA1 and HMGA1a proteins in ORC recruitment, and the origin formation at various chromosomal locations [26]. The miR-BART2 is a miRNA encoded by the EBV genome, and it binds to the mRNA of BALF5, which is the catalytic subunit of the EBV DNP. Repression of DNP blocks lytic replication, and it this leads to the establishment of latency in the human [27].

nroRNAs – novel replication-associated transcripts in herpesviruses

Next-generation short-read sequencing (SRS), and recently, third-generation long-read sequencing (LRS) have identified several novel raRNA molecules that are expressed from the genomic regions mapped in close vicinity to the replication origins in various viruses. These transcripts designated as near-replication origin (nro)RNAs in herpesviruses and further raRNAs in other viruses are supposed to be produced by a mechanism that regulates the replication initiation and the orientation of replisome progression, which is based on the collision of the replication and transcription apparatuses [28]. The herpesvirus family is subdivided into three subfamilies: alphaherpesviruses, including the human pathogenic Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and the Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) as well as the veterinary pathogen Pseudorabies virus (PRV); betaherpesviruses, such as the Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV); and gammaherpesviruses, including the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated virus (KSHV). Alphaherpesviruses have two genera: Varicellovirus (e.g. VZV and PRV) and Simplexvirus (e.g. HSV-1). The genome of alpha- and betaherpesviruses are composed of a unique long (UL) and a unique short (US) region, which are either both bracketed by inverted repeats (IRs) such as in HSV-1, VZV and HCMV, or only the US region is surrounded by IRs such as in PRV (Fig. 1). Alphaherpesviruses express a variety of nroRNAs from the DNA segment around their Oris. PRV contains three Oris, one in its UL region (OriL), and two on the two copies of the IRs (OriS). CTO-S (Fig. 2A), a 286bp ncRNA, is first expressed at the onset of DNA replication (at 4 h post-infection) [28,29]. Despite being the most abundant PRV transcript, CTO-S is practically not expressed at all during the early stage of viral infection [30], which is very rare even among late viral transcripts. CTO-S has a transcription end site (TES) isoform (CTO-AT) which overlaps the convergently-oriented longer UL22 TES variant. CTO-L is a very long TES isoform of UL21 transcript. CTO-M is transcribed using the poly(A) signal of UL21 as a promoter. Except the low-abundance CTO-AS, the rest of the CTO transcripts have a common transcript start site (TSS). The CTO-M and CTO-L transcripts overlap the OriS. The PTO and the PTO-US1 transcripts are encoded by the genomic segments located near the PRV OriLs. The PTO is an ncRNA and it does not overlap the Ori, whereas the PTO-Us1 (which can be considered as a very long TSS isoform of US1, or alternatively, a TES variant of PTO) overlaps the OriLs. PTO-US1 contain an intact open reading frame (ORF) of us1 gene, but it is unknown whether this coding potential is realized in translation or not.

Figure 1.

The genomic structure of various herpesviruses. The genomes of herpesviruses are composed of varying number of unique and repeat regions. The replication origins can be located either in the unique, or in the repeat regions, or in both.

: PRV: Pseudorabies virus; VZV: Varicella-zoster virus; HSV-1: Herpes simplex virus type 1; HCMV: Human cytomegalovirus; EBV: Epstein-Barr virus; KSHV: Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus; UL: unique long region; US: unique short region; TRL: terminal repeat of UL region; TRS: terminal repeat of US region; TR: terminal repeat; IR: internal repeat; LUR: long unique coding region; Ori: replication origin.

VZV contains two OriSs, one in each IR region, but it lacks OriL. The VZV NTO transcripts are similar to those of the PRV PTOs regarding their locations; however, the sequences of these transcripts are non-homologous (Fig. 2B) [31]: for example, the transcripts NTO1-3 overlap the ORF62 mRNA in an antiparallel manner, which is not the case for PTO; it does not overlap the ORF62-homologue IE180. The NTO2-4 RNAs are all non-coding. The NTO2-3 transcripts do not overlap the OriS, whereas the spliced NTO1 (expressed in two TES isoforms) does overlap it. Furthermore, the longer TSS variants of ORF63 (ORF63-L) and ORF63-64 (ORF63-L-64) are initiated very closely to the OriS (ORF63 is homologous to the US1 gene of PRV and HSV-1). Intriguingly, two closely-related organisms have evolved in parallel a distinct set of transcripts around their OriSs with presumably identical functions. The sequence of the nroRNAs appears to be irrelevant, only the Ori-proximal location seems to be important. A peculiar feature of the NTO3 transcript is that it is A to I hyper-edited, which has not been observed in any other VZV RNAs [31]. Hyper-editing has been shown to play a role in inhibiting RNA interference through making the mRNAs resistant to Dicer cleavage [32]. The function of this nucleotide modification in VZV and the importance of its proximity to the viral replication origin remain to be explored.

Figure 2.

The locations of herpesvirus nroRNAs and replications origins. The replication-associated transcripts can overlap the Ori, or they can be in close vicinity to it. An Ori-overlapping nroRNA can be a non-coding transcript, or alternatively they can be the 5ʹ-UTR, or 3ʹ-UTR region of a longer TSS or TES isoform of a mRNA. Transcription initiation or termination in the proximity of the Ori can also affect the replication.

black rectangle: Ori; yellow arrow-rectangle: open reading frame (ORF); blue arrow-rectangle connected with a line: intron; blue arrow-rectangle: mRNAs; red arrow-rectangle: non-coding RNA; red dashed rectangle: uncertain TSS and red rectangle with three black dots: transcript end terminating out of view.: PRV: Pseudorabies virus; VZV: Varicella-zoster virus; HSV-1: Herpes simplex virus type 1; HCMV: Human cytomegalovirus; EBV: Epstein-Barr virus; KSHV: Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus

Unlike in PRV, the HSV-1 us1 gene is located in the US region but it also produces OriS overlapping transcripts: the 5ʹ-coterminal ncRNA pairs, the OriS-RNA1 and the OriS-RNA2 (Fig. 2C). The OriS-RNA1 has been shown to be expressed with an early kinetics, whereas OriS-RNA2 is a late transcript [33]. Moreover, the longer isoform of the US1 transcript partially overlaps the OriS with its 5ʹ-UTR [33]. Similarly, the 5ʹ-UTRs of the US12 transcript variants also overlap the OriS. The OriL is located at a different position than in the PRV, but this genomic location also expresses an nroRNA, the OriL-RNA. In HSV, some nroRNAs also overlap with each other in an antiparallel fashion.

The OriLyts of HCMV [34], EBV [35] and KSHV [36] contain binding sites for the transactivator proteins (IE2, Zta and Rta respectively). In HCMV, a bidirectional promoter in the OriLyt region has been shown to regulate replication (Fig. 2D). This promoter could be functionally substituted with an SV40 promoter. Further, IE2 activation has been found to be required both for promoter activity and for DNA replication [37]. The numerous 3ʹ-isoforms of the small replicator transcript (SRT) overlap the essential pyrimidine-rich region of the OriLyt, and therefore, they have been implicated in the regulation of replication. SRT is expressed from 2 h post-infection, and its expression increases throughout the viral replication cycle. RNA4.9, one of the most abundant transcripts of HCMV, also originates in the OriLyt region [38]. It has recently been shown that RNA4.9 regulates lytic replication both in cis and in trans [39]. Two virion-associated RNA (vRNA) species, one 300bp and another 500bp long, have also been discovered in the OriLyt region forming RNA-DNA hybrids. Such molecules have been supposed to be essential for the initiation of viral replication [40,41].

Lytic gammaherpesvirus DNA replication is dependent on the transcription in the viral Ori. The binding of KSHV Rta to the Rta responsive element has been shown to be essential for viral replication [36]. The produced OriLyt (T1.5) transcript, an early polyadenylated transcript [42], is indispensable for DNA replication [43]. The replication of EBV has also been reported to be dependent on Zta-induced transcription in the OriLyt [35]. The promoters and the transcription start sites of both LF3 and BHLF1 are found in the right and left lytic origins, respectively; however, no study has examined whether the transcription of these specific transcripts are required for the DNA replication.

Replication-associated transcripts in other viruses

Baculoviruses

The baculovirus Oris reside in the AT-rich repeat sequences, which are homologous within the members of Baculoviridae family [44,45] (Fig. 3A). The number and position of these homologous regions (hrs) varies greatly between the taxa [46]. The most studied baculovirus, Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) carries nine hrs [44,45]. Although the hrs have been identified as the main initiators of viral replication, other studies suggest that non-hr sequences [47,48] and promoters [49] can also act as origins of the DNA synthesis. It has been previously shown that the whole AcMNPV genome is transcriptionally active [50,51], resulting in considerable read-through activity across all the hrs. LRS studies have revealed that the main source of overlaps is the very long transcripts spanning multiple oppositely-oriented ORFs (complex transcripts): 15 out of the 29 overlaps are formed by complex transcripts, seven by the most abundant isoforms, four by polycistronic transcripts, two by longer 5ʹ-UTR isoforms, while only a single overlap is formed by a longer 3ʹ-UTR isoform [50,51] (Fig. 3). Despite being the most numerous among the raRNAs by sort, complex RNAs are represented in low abundance [51], which indicates a much lower frequency of read-through events than in core and polycistronic transcripts as well as in UTR isoforms. Fourteen of the transcripts overlap the hrs with their 3ʹ-UTRs, eleven with their 5ʹ-UTRs, whereas in five transcripts (ORF114, PIF3-ORF114, ORF57-C, FP5K-ORF60-59–58 and FP25-K), the first protein-coding ORF overlaps the hr [50,51].

Figure 3.

Replication-associated transcripts in a baculovirus, a poxvirus and a circovirus. These transcripts, similarly to the nroRNA-s of herpesviruses, are located in the close proximity of the replication origin, or they can overlap the Ori. a. Both ncRNAs and mRNAs have been described to start or terminate relatively close to the Ori of AcMNPV and VACV, while many of these overlap the Ori. b. All transcript isoforms of the PCV-1, except the CTR, overlap the Ori with their 5ʹ-UTRs. c. The concatemer junction region of the Vaccinia virus encloses multiple replication origins [58], which are overlapped by many non-coding transcripts expressed in low abundance. The TSS and TES of these ncRNAs are highly variable.

: black rectangle: Ori; yellow arrow-rectangle: open reading frame (ORF); blue arrow-rectangle connected with a line: intron; blue arrow-rectangle: mRNAs; red arrow-rectangle: non-coding RNA. The highly variable ncRNAs of VACV are shown by red arrow-rectangles.Abbreviations: AcMNPV: Autographa californica Multiple Nucleopolyhedrosis Virus, VACV: Vaccinia virus, PCV-1: Porcine circovirus type 1; NR: nonrepeated sequences

Poxviruses

The DNA primase-helicase encoded by Vaccinia virus (VACV) has been suggested to use RNA primers for the initiation of lagging-strand synthesis [52,53], although former studies proposed a model of rolling hairpin mechanism for viral replication [54,55]. The VACV DNA synthesis is initiated near the genome termini, where a repeat region forms a hairpin end acts as a conserved replication initiation site [56,57]. SRS analysis have revealed multiple potential replication start sites. The start positions of the leading strand are located around the Apex of the junction of concatenated VACV telomeric region within a near 400bp region, and putative Okazaki fragments have been mapped throughout the entire genome [58]. It has been demonstrated that VACV telomeres contain promoters for late RNA production, which may involve in concatemer resolution or in replication [59,60]. Some of these late telomeric transcripts (lateRNAs) bridge the entire Ori region. The 3ʹ ends of the lateRNAs vary in length, and some of them encompass the entire telomeric hairpin, which contains the Ori (Fig. 3B). It has been proposed that the late transcription within the concatemer junction might play a role in opening up the DNA duplex during the initiation of the replication [58].

Circoviruses

A stem-loop structure in the intergenic region serves as the origin of replication for the small circular genome of circoviruses [61]. In the porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV-1), the 5ʹ-UTR region of the core CAP transcript and of its two length isoforms form a full overlap with the Ori. Similarly, the 5ʹ-UTR region of the three REP length isoforms form a full overlap, whereas the eight REP isoforms and the core REP transcript overlap the Ori with 5bps. Additionally, the 3ʹ-UTR of the Atr transcript, encoding the putative ORF3 protein, overlaps the Ori with 18bps, while the two very long non-coding CTR and CTR’ transcripts fully overlap the Ori [62-65] (Fig. 3C).

Interactions between the transcription and replication machineries

It is debated whether eukaryotic cells efficiently separate transcription and replication [66-68]. Concurrent transcription and replication can lead to the confrontation of the replication fork and the RNA polymerase. Using an in vitro system, Liu et al. [69] have demonstrated that RNA polymerase can continue elongation meanwhile the replication fork progresses on the other strand, parallel to it. In vivo experiments on a replicating plasmid in E. coli have shown that head-to-tail collision does not impede the progression of the replication fork, whereas head on collision does [70]. It has been demonstrated that crashes of the replication fork with the transcription machinery cause genetic instability in yeast and bacteria [71,72]. It has been described that RNA:DNA hybrids formed at sites of transcription-replication clashes, and that RNase H1 acts to suppress the instability of DNA breakage hot spots known as common fragile sites (CFSs) [73]. The authors suggest that replication and transcription are spatially and temporally separated in eukaryotic cells in order to avoid the confrontation of the polymerase molecules. DNA instability has been shown to be dependent on the length of the genes at a given genomic location because transcription of the longer genes takes more time. Helmrich et al. [73] have demonstrated that interference between the replication fork and the transcription complex is inevitable in the longest genes because of the inability of the two processes to be separated at large transcription units during the replication. This results in the formation of CFS, which is prone to genomic instability. Altogether, the authors argue that the ongoing replication negatively regulates the transcription initiation in the long genes. The co-directional arrangement of the replication and transcription in prokaryotic [74] and eukaryotic [75] genomes may also serve to preclude the collision of these machineries. An alternative explanation for the separation of the transcription and replication is that the interaction between these processes causes this phenomenon, that is, the two processes may be under a common control.

Transcription replication interference network (TRIN)

It has been observed that the overall transcription rate of the individual PRV genes declines following the onset of DNA replication [76]. Similar to other organisms, the expression kinetics of herpesvirus genes is mainly governed by transcription factors acting on the promoters of these genes. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the process of replication affects the gene expression, and vice versa, the transcription exerts an effect on the progress of the replication fork. The discoveries of raRNAs in herpesviruses, baculoviruses and circoviruses [28,29,33,50,51,62,77,78], along with the general repressive effect of DNA synthesis on the transcription suggest that the two processes interact with one another on both the replication origins and across the entire genome. We present the proposed mechanism of the effects of nroRNAs on the determination of the orientation of the replication fork progression as well as the facilitatory effect of these transcripts on the DNA synthesis (Fig. 4). It is assumed that the RNP transcribing the CTO-M and CTO-L collides with the replisome (at the OriL) progressing in two directions (θ-type manner), and as a result, it renders the replication to be unidirectional (σ-type). In the meantime, CTO-S transcription unwinds the DNA strands, thereby helping the unidirectionality of the DNA replication. The transcription of CTO-AT is supposed to reduce the expression of the convergent ul22 gene, thereby eliminating a potential inhibitory effect of transcription on the replication and also advancing the DNA synthesis in a σ -type manner. All in all, the CTO transcripts are thought to have a role in the switch from the θ-type to the σ-type of replication. Alternatively, this mechanism may impede the initiation of bidirectional replication. In this scenario, no θ-type replication occurs in herpesviruses at all. We assume that the interactions between the transcriptional machinery and the replication fork form a transcription and replication interference network (TRIN), which regulates the gene expression globally and determines the rate of the DNA synthesis in a mutually interdependent manner. It is very likely that the nroRNAs and the related raRNAs are not mere byproducts of this interference mechanism, but they also have functions as transcripts. This hypothesis is supported by the polyadenylation of these RNA molecules, the general function of which is to protect the RNA integrity. The viral raRNAs may direct the replication by forming R-loops [79].

Figure 4.

Collision of the RNA polymerase transcribing the nroRNAs and the DNA polymerase during the replication of PRV DNA. A: schematic representation of the transcripts expressed in the region around the PRV OriL (marked by a black box). B: First the PRV DNA is replicated through a bidirectional (theta) replication. C: Transcription initiated at the promoter of the CTO-S transcript furthers replication by unwinding the DNA. D: The CTO-M and CTO-L transcripts exert a repressive effect on DNA replication in one direction and the transcription of CTO-S facilitates it in the other direction by unwinding the DNA strands. In this hypothetical model, the existence of theta-type replication is not necessary, since the proposed collision-based mechanism can prevent its initiation.

Conclusions

It has become evident by now that all of the examined viruses express transcripts or transcript isoforms, which overlap the replication origin, or alternatively they start or end in close vicinity of the Ori. Altogether, we can distinguish four types of raRNAs on the basis of their coding potency and position to the Ori: (1) non-coding transcripts that do not overlap the Ori (such as CTO-S, CTO-S-AT, and PTO of PRV; NTO2, NTO3 and NTO4 of VZV; as well as SRT and RNA4.9 of HCMV); (2) non-coding transcripts that do overlap the Ori (such as CTO-M of PRV); (3) mRNA isoforms with very long 3ʹ-UTR (such as CTO-L of PRV); and (4) mRNA isoforms with very long 5ʹ-UTR variant [such as PTO-US1 of PRV, OriS RNA1 of HSV-1, as well as NTO1v1 and NTO1v2 of VZV]. The baculovirus raRNAs are all coding, two of them exhibit ORFs-Ori overlapping. The VACV lateRNAs are all non-coding. The difference between the size, location, expression characteristic, and posttranscriptional modification of the various viral raRNAs do not necessarily means that they would influence viral replication through distinct mechanisms. On the contrary, the expression of non-homologous transcripts near the Ori suggests that the same function can be solved in different ways, which are the result of convergent evolution. The mechanistic details of how these replication-associated transcripts exert their effects on the DNA synthesis have not yet been ascertained. We hypothesize that these transcripts are produced as byproducts of a mechanism regulating the DNA synthesis through the interaction between the replication and transcription machineries, but these transcripts very likely also function as RNA molecules. The inhibition of replication initiation through intervening in raRNA synthesis can be a useful approach for developing effective antiviral therapies. Even though the proteins responsible for replication differ in viruses and eukaryotes, the mechanistic interactions between the replisome and the transcriptosome may be universal.