Structural Insights into RNA Encapsidation and Helical Assembly of the Toscana Virus Nucleoprotein

Overview

Journal Nucleic Acids Res

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Biochemistry

Date 2014 Apr 2

PMID 24688060

Citations 23

Authors

Daniel Olal

Alexej Dick

Virgil L Woods Jr

Tong Liu

Sheng Li

Stephanie Devignot

Friedemann Weber

Erica Ollmann Saphire

Oliver Daumke

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

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.

Citing Articles

Nucleocapsids of the Rift Valley fever virus ambisense S segment contain an exposed RNA element in the center that overlaps with the intergenic region.

Shalamova L, Barth P, Pickin M, Kouti K, Ott B, Humpert K Nat Commun. 2024; 15(1):7602.

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The Phlebovirus Ribonucleoprotein: An Overview.

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Structural flexibility of Toscana virus nucleoprotein in the presence of a single-chain camelid antibody.

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The phenuivirus Toscana virus makes an atypical use of vacuolar acidity to enter host cells.

Koch J, Xin Q, Obr M, Schafer A, Rolfs N, Anagho H PLoS Pathog. 2023; 19(8):e1011562.

PMID: 37578957 PMC: 10449198. DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011562.

The mechanism of genome replication and transcription in bunyaviruses.

Malet H, Williams H, Cusack S, Rosenthal M PLoS Pathog. 2023; 19(1):e1011060.

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