Viruses, Vol. 12, Pages 1115: NMR Studies of Retroviral Genome Packaging

Viruses, Vol. 12, Pages 1115: NMR Studies of Retroviral Genome Packaging
Viruses doi: 10.3390/v12101115
Authors:
Patricia S. Boyd
Janae B. Brown
Joshua D. Brown
Jonathan Catazaro
Issac Chaudry
Pengfei Ding
Xinmei Dong
Jan Marchant
Colin T. O’Hern
Karndeep Singh
Canessa Swanson
Michael F. Summers
Saif Yasin

Nearly all retroviruses selectively package two copies of their unspliced RNA genomes from a cellular milieu that contains a substantial excess of non-viral and spliced viral RNAs. Over the past four decades, combinations of genetic experiments, phylogenetic analyses, nucleotide accessibility mapping, in silico RNA structure predictions, and biophysical experiments were employed to understand how retroviral genomes are selected for packaging. Genetic studies provided early clues regarding the protein and RNA elements required for packaging, and nucleotide accessibility mapping experiments provided insights into the secondary structures of functionally important elements in the genome. Three-dimensional structural determinants of packaging were primarily derived by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. A key advantage of NMR, relative to other methods for determining biomolecular structure (such as X-ray crystallography), is that it is well suited for studies of conformationally dynamic and heterogeneous systems—a hallmark of the retrovirus packaging machinery. Here, we review advances in understanding of the structure...

Source: Viruses - September 29, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Patricia S. Boyd Janae B. Brown Joshua D. Brown Jonathan Catazaro Issac Chaudry Pengfei Ding Xinmei Dong Jan Marchant Colin T. O ’Hern Karndeep Singh Canessa Swanson Michael F. Summers Saif Yasin Tags: Review Source Type: research