Evidence that the packaging signal for nodaviral RNA2 is a bulged stem-loop

Flock house virus is an insect virus belonging to the family Nodaviridae; members of this family are characterized by a small bipartite positive-stranded RNA genome. The larger genomic segment, RNA1, encodes viral replication proteins, whereas the smaller one, RNA2, encodes coat protein. Both RNAs are packaged in a single particle. A defective-interfering RNA (DI-634), isolated from a line of Drosophila cells persistently infected with Flock house virus, was used to show that a 32-base region of RNA2 (bases 186-217) is required for packaging into virions. RNA folding analysis predicted that this region forms a stem-loop structure with a 5-base loop and a 13-base-pair bulged stem.