Direct Evidence for Packaging Signal-Mediated Assembly of Bacteriophage MS2.

ABSTRACT: Using cross-linking coupled to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and CLIP-Seq sequencing, we determined the peptide and oligonucleotide sequences at the interfaces between the capsid proteins and the genomic RNA of bacteriophage MS2. The results suggest that the same coat protein (CP)-RNA and maturation protein (MP)-RNA interfaces are used in every viral particle. The portions of the viral RNA in contact with CP subunits span the genome, consistent with a large number of discrete and similar contacts within each particle. Many of these sites match previous predictions of the locations of multiple, dispersed and degenerate RNA sites with cognate CP affinity termed packaging signals (PSs). Chemical RNA footprinting was used to compare the secondary structures of p

SUBMITTER: Rolfsson O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4751978 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature