Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 8, 2025

Generation and Assembly of Virus-Specific Nucleocapsids of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Published on: July 27, 2021
How and why RNA genomes are (partially) ordered in viral capsids
Charles M Knobler1, William M Gelbart2
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States.
Abstract:
There is a long and productive progression of X-ray crystallographic and electron microscopy studies establishing the structures of the spherical/icosahedral and cylindrical/helical capsids of a wide range of virus particles. This is because of the high degree of order - down to the Angstrom scale - in the secondary/tertiary/quaternary structure of the proteins making up the capsids. In stark contradistinction, very little is known about the structure of DNA or RNA genomes inside these capsids. This is because of the relatively large extent of disorder in the confined DNA or RNA, due to several fundamental reasons: topological defects in the DNA case, and secondary/tertiary structural disorder in the RNA case. In this article we discuss the range of partial order associated with the encapsidated genomes of single-stranded RNA viruses, focusing on the contrast between mono-partite and multi-partite viruses and on the effects of sequence-specific and non-specific interactions between RNA and capsid proteins.
More Related Videos
12:38Structure of HIV-1 Capsid Assemblies by Cryo-electron Microscopy and Iterative Helical Real-space Reconstruction
Published on: August 9, 2011
08:56Combining Analysis of DNA in a Crude Virion Extraction with the Analysis of RNA from Infected Leaves to Discover New Virus Genomes
Published on: July 27, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Viral Structure
Introduction to Virus
Retroviruses
Subviral Agents