Phase separation and viral factories: unveiling the physical processes supporting RNA packaging in dsRNA viruses

Understanding of the physicochemical properties and functions of biomolecular condensates has rapidly advanced over the past decade. More recently, many RNA viruses have been shown to form cytoplasmic replication factories, or viroplasms, via phase separation of their components, akin to numerous cellular membraneless organelles. Notably, diverse viruses from the Reoviridae family containing 10-12 segmented double-stranded RNA genomes induce the formation of viroplasms in infected cells. Little is known about the inner workings of these membraneless cytoplasmic inclusions and how they may support stoichiometric RNA assembly in viruses with segmented RNA genomes, raising questions about the roles of phase separation in coordinating viral genome packaging. Here, we discuss how the molecular composition of viroplasms determines their properties, highlighting the interplay between RNA structure, RNA remodelling, and condensate self-organisation. Advancements in RNA structural probing and theoretical modelling of condensates can reveal the mechanisms through which these ribonucleoprotein complexes support the selective enrichment and stoichiometric assembly of distinct viral RNAs.