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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Generation and Assembly of Virus-Specific Nucleocapsids of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Published on: July 27, 2021
Characterization of a mumps virus nucleocapsidlike particle
Robert Cox1, Todd J Green, Shihong Qiu
1Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1025 18th Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA.
Abstract:
The nucleocapsid protein (NP) of mumps virus (MuV), a paramyxovirus, was coexpressed with the phosphoprotein (P) in Escherichia coli. The NP and P proteins form a soluble complex containing RNA. Under a transmission electron microscope, the NP-RNA complex appears as a nucleocapsidlike ring that has a diameter of approximately 20 nm with 13 subunits. There is a piece of single-stranded RNA with a length of 78 nucleotides in the NP-RNA ring. Shorter RNA pieces are also visible. The MuV NP protein may provide weaker protection of the RNA than the NP protein of some other negative-strand RNA viruses, reflecting the degree of NP protein association.
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