Nanosized Particles Assembled by a Recombinant Virus Protein Are Able to Encapsulate Negatively Charged Molecules and Structured RNA.

ABSTRACT: RNA-based molecules have recently become hot candidates to be developed into therapeutic agents. However, successful applications of RNA-based therapeutics might require suitable carriers to protect the RNA from enzymatic degradation by ubiquitous RNases in vivo. Because of their better biocompatibility and biodegradability, protein-based nanoparticles are considered to be alternatives to their synthetic polymer-based counterparts for drug delivery. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein has been suggested to be able to self-assemble into nucleocapsid-like particles in vitro. In this study, the genomic RNA-binding domain of HCV core protein consisting of 116 amino acids (p116) was overexpressed with E. coli for investigation. The recombinant p116 was able to assemble into particles with an a

SUBMITTER: Mani H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7998283 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature