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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes: A Functional Genomics Tool for the Study of Positive-strand RNA Viruses
Published on: December 29, 2015
Structure of the vesicular stomatitis virus nucleoprotein-RNA complex
Todd J Green1, Xin Zhang, Gail W Wertz
1Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1025 18th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Abstract:
Vesicular stomatitis virus is a negative-stranded RNA virus. Its nucleoprotein (N) binds the viral genomic RNA and is involved in multiple functions including transcription, replication, and assembly. We have determined a 2.9 angstrom structure of a complex containing 10 molecules of the N protein and 90 bases of RNA. The RNA is tightly sequestered in a cavity at the interface between two lobes of the N protein. This serves to protect the RNA in the absence of polynucleotide synthesis. For the RNA to be accessed, some conformational change in the N protein should be necessary.
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