Viral genomic single-stranded RNA directs the pathway toward a T=3 capsid.

ABSTRACT: The molecular mechanisms controlling genome packaging by single-stranded RNA viruses are still largely unknown. It is necessary in most cases for the protein to adopt different conformations at different positions on the capsid lattice in order to form a viral capsid from multiple copies of a single protein. We showed previously that such quasi-equivalent conformers of RNA bacteriophage MS2 coat protein dimers (CP(2)) can be switched by sequence-specific interaction with a short RNA stem-loop (TR) that occurs only once in the wild-type phage genome. In principle, multiple switching events are required to generate the phage T=3 capsid. We have therefore investigated the sequence dependency of this event using two RNA aptamer sequences selected to bind the phage coat protein and an analogous

SUBMITTER: Basnak G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4785722 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature