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

• Published in: Journal of general virology Vol. 94; no. Pt 8; pp. 1734 - 1738
• Main Authors: Bakker, Saskia E, Duquerroy, Stéphane, Galloux, Marie, Loney, Colin, Conner, Edward, Eléouët, Jean-François, Rey, Félix A, Bhella, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Microbiology Society 01.08.2013; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Animal; Humans; Life Sciences; Models, Molecular; Nucleocapsid - chemistry; Nucleoproteins - chemistry; Nucleoproteins - metabolism; Protein Binding; Protein Conformation; Respiratory syncytial virus; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human - chemistry; RNA, Viral - chemistry; RNA, Viral - metabolism
• ISSN: 0022-1317; 1465-2099; 1465-2099
• DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.053025-0

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.