A Model for Viral Assembly around an Explicit RNA Sequence Generates an Implicit Fitness Landscape.

ABSTRACT: Previously, a stochastic model of single-stranded RNA virus assembly was created to model the cooperative effects between capsid proteins and genomic RNA that would occur in a packaging signal-mediated assembly process. In such an assembly scenario, multiple secondary structural elements from within the RNA, termed "packaging signals" (PS), contact coat proteins and facilitate efficient capsid assembly. In this work, the assembly model is extended to incorporate explicit nucleotide sequence information as well as simple aspects of RNA folding that would be occurring during the RNA/capsid coassembly process. Applying this paradigm to a dodecahedral viral capsid, a computer-derived nucleotide sequence is evolved de novo that is optimal for packaging the RNA into capsids, while also containin

SUBMITTER: Dykeman EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5550301 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature