The respiratory syncytial virus nucleoprotein–RNA complex forms a left-handed helical nucleocapsid
Bakker, Saskia E. and Duquerroy, Stéphane and Galloux, Marie and Loney, Colin and Conner, Edward and Eléouët, Jean-François and Rey, Félix A. and Bhella, David,, 94, 1734-1738 (2013),
doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.053025-0,
publicationName = Microbiology Society,
issn = 0022-1317,
abstract= Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important human pathogen. Its nucleocapsid (NC), which comprises the negative sense RNA viral genome coated by the viral nucleoprotein N, is a critical assembly that serves as template for both mRNA synthesis and genome replication. We have previously described the X-ray structure of an NC-like structure: a decameric ring formed of N-RNA that mimics one turn of the helical NC. In the absence of experimental data we had hypothesized that the NC helix would be right-handed, as the N–N contacts in the ring appeared to more easily adapt to that conformation. We now unambiguously show that the RSV NC is a left-handed helix. We further show that the contacts in the ring can be distorted to maintain key N–N-protein interactions in a left-handed helix, and discuss the implications of the resulting atomic model of the helical NC for viral replication and transcription.,
language=,
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