Roles of the Coding and Noncoding Regions of Rift Valley Fever Virus RNA Genome Segments in Viral RNA Packaging

Abstract

We characterized the RNA elements involved in the packaging of Rift Valley fever virus RNA genome segments, L, M, and S. The 5′-terminal 25 nucleotides of each RNA segment were equally competent for RNA packaging and carried an RNA packaging signal, which overlapped with the RNA replication signal. Only the deletion mutants of L RNA, but not full-length L RNA, were efficiently packaged, implying the possible requirement of RNA compaction for L RNA packaging.