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Nucleic Acid Packaging in Viruses

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Structure and Physics of Viruses

Part of the book series: Subcellular Biochemistry ((SCBI,volume 68))

Abstract

Viruses protect their genetic information by enclosing the viral nucleic acid inside a protein shell (capsid), in a process known as genome packaging. Viruses follow essentially two main strategies to package their genome: Either they co-assemble their genetic material together with the capsid protein, or they assemble first an empty shell (procapsid) and then pump the genome inside the capsid with a molecular motor that uses the energy released by ATP hydrolysis. During packaging the viral nucleic acid is condensed to very high concentration by its careful arrangement in concentric layers inside the capsid. In this chapter we will first give an overview of the different strategies used for genome packaging to discuss later some specific virus models where the structures of the main proteins involved, and the biophysics underlying the packaging mechanism, have been well documented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Also especially recommended for further reading are references [5, 20, 27, 45] listed above.

Abbreviations

ATP:

Adenosine triphosphate

bp:

Base pair

BPMV:

Bean pod mottle virus

BTV:

Bluetongue virus

Cdom:

Carboxy domain

ds:

Double-stranded

FHV:

Flock house virus

HCMV:

Human cytomegalovirus

mRNA:

messenger RNA

Ndom:

Amino domain

NPC:

Nucleoprotein complex

nt:

Nucleotides

NTP:

Nucleotide triphosphate

PaV:

Pariacoto virus

pRNA:

prohead RNA

ss:

Single stranded

STMV:

Satellite tobacco mosaic virus

TMV:

Tobacco mosaic virus

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Jaime Martin-Benito for his contribution to Fig. 12.1c. This work was supported by Grant BFU2011-29038 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Macromolecular Structure, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CSIC), c/Darwin 3, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Ana Cuervo, María I. Daudén & José L. Carrascosa

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  1. Ana Cuervo
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  2. María I. Daudén
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  3. José L. Carrascosa
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Correspondence to José L. Carrascosa .

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  1. "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC_UAM), And Dept. of Molecular Biology, Centro de Biología Molecular, Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Mauricio G. Mateu

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Cuervo, A., Daudén, M.I., Carrascosa, J.L. (2013). Nucleic Acid Packaging in Viruses. In: Mateu, M. (eds) Structure and Physics of Viruses. Subcellular Biochemistry, vol 68. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6552-8_12

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