Journal article

Publication year: 2014

Pages: 6025-6037

Journal: Nucleic Acids Research

Volume number: 42

Issue number: 9

ISSN: 0305-1048

eISSN: 1362-4962

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku229

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract: 

Toscana virus is an emerging bunyavirus in Mediterranean Europe where it accounts for 80% of pediatric meningitis cases during the summer. The negative-strand ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome of the virus is wrapped around the virally encoded nucleoprotein N to form the ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP). We determined crystal structures of hexameric N alone (apo) and in complex with a nonameric single-stranded RNA. RNA is sequestered in a sequence-independent fashion in a deep groove inside the hexamer. At the junction between two adjacent copies of Ns, RNA binding induced an inter-subunit rotation, which opened the RNA-binding tunnel and created a new assembly interface at the outside of the hexamer. Based on these findings, we suggest a structural model for how binding of RNA to N promotes the formation of helical RNPs, which are a characteristic hallmark of many negative-strand RNA viruses.

Harvard Citation style: Olal, D., Dick, A., Woods, V., Liu, T., Li, S., Devignot, S., et al. (2014) Structural insights into RNA encapsidation and helical assembly of the Toscana virus nucleoprotein, Nucleic Acids Research, 42(9), pp. 6025-6037. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku229

APA Citation style: Olal, D., Dick, A., Woods, V., Liu, T., Li, S., Devignot, S., Weber, F., Saphire, E., & Daumke, O. (2014). Structural insights into RNA encapsidation and helical assembly of the Toscana virus nucleoprotein. Nucleic Acids Research. 42(9), 6025-6037. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku229