Why Enveloped Viruses Need Cores-The Contribution of a Nucleocapsid Core to Viral Budding.

ABSTRACT: During the lifecycle of many enveloped viruses, a nucleocapsid core buds through the cell membrane to acquire an outer envelope of lipid membrane and viral glycoproteins. However, the presence of a nucleocapsid core is not required for assembly of infectious particles. To determine the role of the nucleocapsid core, we develop a coarse-grained computational model with which we investigate budding dynamics as a function of glycoprotein and nucleocapsid interactions, as well as budding in the absence of a nucleocapsid. We find that there is a transition between glycoprotein-directed budding and nucleocapsid-directed budding that occurs above a threshold strength of nucleocapsid interactions. The simulations predict that glycoprotein-directed budding leads to significantly increased size poly

SUBMITTER: Lazaro GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5985022 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature