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Updated: Apr 24, 2026

Purification and Visualization of Influenza A Viral Ribonucleoprotein Complexes
Published on: February 9, 2009
RNA structural constraints in the evolution of the influenza A virus genome NP segment
Alexander P Gultyaev1, Anton Tsyganov-Bodounov2, Monique I J Spronken3
1Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 1, The Netherlands;
Abstract:
Conserved RNA secondary structures were predicted in the nucleoprotein (NP) segment of the influenza A virus genome using comparative sequence and structure analysis. A number of structural elements exhibiting nucleotide covariations were identified over the whole segment length, including protein-coding regions. Calculations of mutual information values at the paired nucleotide positions demonstrate that these structures impose considerable constraints on the virus genome evolution. Functional importance of a pseudoknot structure, predicted in the NP packaging signal region, was confirmed by plaque assays of the mutant viruses with disrupted structure and those with restored folding using compensatory substitutions. Possible functions of the conserved RNA folding patterns in the influenza A virus genome are discussed.
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