The respiratory syncytial virus nucleoprotein-RNA complex forms a left-handed helical nucleocapsid

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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 lefthanded helix. We further show that the contacts in the ring can be distorted to maintain key N-Nprotein interactions in a left-handed helix, and discuss the implications of the resulting atomic model of the helical NC for viral replication and transcription. © 2013 SGM.

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Bakker, S. E., Duquerroy, S., Galloux, M., Loney, C., Conner, E., Eléouet, J. F., … Bhella, D. (2013). The respiratory syncytial virus nucleoprotein-RNA complex forms a left-handed helical nucleocapsid. Journal of General Virology, 94(PART8), 1734–1738. https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.053025-0

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