Previous Article | Next Article 
Journal of Virology, November 1998, p. 8738-8746, Vol. 72, No. 11
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Specific Encapsidation of Nodavirus RNAs Is
Mediated through the C Terminus of Capsid Precursor
Protein Alpha
Anette
Schneemann* and
Dawn
Marshall
Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps
Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037
Received 1 May 1998/Accepted 28 July 1998
Flock house virus (FHV) is a small icosahedral insect virus with a
bipartite, messenger-sense RNA genome. Its T=3 icosahedral capsid is
initially assembled from 180 subunits of a single type of coat protein,
capsid precursor protein alpha (407 amino acids). Following assembly,
the precursor particles undergo a maturation step in which the alpha
subunits autocatalytically cleave between Asn363 and Ala364. This
cleavage generates mature coat proteins beta (363 residues) and gamma
(44 residues) and is required for acquisition of virion infectivity.
The X-ray structure of mature FHV shows that gamma peptides located at
the fivefold axes of the virion form a pentameric helical bundle, and
it has been suggested that this bundle plays a role in release of viral
RNA during FHV uncoating. To provide experimental support for this
hypothesis, we generated mutant coat proteins that carried deletions in
the gamma region of precursor protein alpha. Surprisingly, we found that these mutations interfered with specific recognition and packaging
of viral RNA during assembly. The resulting particles contained large
amounts of cellular RNAs and varying amounts of the viral RNAs.
Single-site amino acid substitution mutants showed that three
phenylalanines located at positions 402, 405, and 407 of coat precursor
protein alpha were critically important for specific recognition of the
FHV genome. Thus, in addition to its hypothesized role in uncoating and
RNA delivery, the C-terminal region of coat protein alpha plays a
significant role in recognition of FHV RNA during assembly. A possible
link between these two functions is discussed.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey
Pines Rd., La Jolla, CA 92037. Phone: (619) 784-8643. Fax: (619)
784-8660. E-mail: aschneem{at}scripps.edu.

Article no. 11623-MB from The Scripps Research Institute.
Journal of Virology, November 1998, p. 8738-8746, Vol. 72, No. 11
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Odegard, A. L., Kwan, M. H., Walukiewicz, H. E., Banerjee, M., Schneemann, A., Johnson, J. E.
(2009). Low Endocytic pH and Capsid Protein Autocleavage Are Critical Components of Flock House Virus Cell Entry. J. Virol.
83: 8628-8637
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Banerjee, M., Khayat, R., Walukiewicz, H. E., Odegard, A. L., Schneemann, A., Johnson, J. E.
(2009). Dissecting the Functional Domains of a Nonenveloped Virus Membrane Penetration Peptide. J. Virol.
83: 6929-6933
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Venter, P. A., Marshall, D., Schneemann, A.
(2009). Dual Roles for an Arginine-Rich Motif in Specific Genome Recognition and Localization of Viral Coat Protein to RNA Replication Sites in Flock House Virus-Infected Cells. J. Virol.
83: 2872-2882
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Venter, P. A., Schneemann, A.
(2007). Assembly of Two Independent Populations of Flock House Virus Particles with Distinct RNA Packaging Characteristics in the Same Cell. J. Virol.
81: 613-619
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Belyi, V. A., Muthukumar, M.
(2006). Electrostatic origin of the genome packing in viruses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
103: 17174-17178
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Maia, L. F., Soares, M. R., Valente, A. P., Almeida, F. C. L., Oliveira, A. C., Gomes, A. M. O., Freitas, M. S., Schneemann, A., Johnson, J. E., Silva, J. L.
(2006). Structure of a Membrane-binding Domain from a Non-enveloped Animal Virus: INSIGHTS INTO THE MECHANISM OF MEMBRANE PERMEABILITY AND CELLULAR ENTRY. J. Biol. Chem.
281: 29278-29286
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Walukiewicz, H. E., Johnson, J. E., Schneemann, A.
(2006). Morphological Changes in the T=3 Capsid of Flock House Virus during Cell Entry. J. Virol.
80: 615-622
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Onafuwa-Nuga, A. A., King, S. R., Telesnitsky, A.
(2005). Nonrandom Packaging of Host RNAs in Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus. J. Virol.
79: 13528-13537
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Dye, B. T., Miller, D. J., Ahlquist, P.
(2005). In Vivo Self-Interaction of Nodavirus RNA Replicase Protein A Revealed by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer. J. Virol.
79: 8909-8919
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Kampmueller, K. M., Miller, D. J.
(2005). The Cellular Chaperone Heat Shock Protein 90 Facilitates Flock House Virus RNA Replication in Drosophila Cells. J. Virol.
79: 6827-6837
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Venter, P. A., Krishna, N. K., Schneemann, A.
(2005). Capsid Protein Synthesis from Replicating RNA Directs Specific Packaging of the Genome of a Multipartite, Positive-Strand RNA Virus. J. Virol.
79: 6239-6248
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Tihova, M., Dryden, K. A., Le, T.-v. L., Harvey, S. C., Johnson, J. E., Yeager, M., Schneemann, A.
(2004). Nodavirus Coat Protein Imposes Dodecahedral RNA Structure Independent of Nucleotide Sequence and Length. J. Virol.
78: 2897-2905
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Miller, D. J., Schwartz, M. D., Dye, B. T., Ahlquist, P.
(2003). Engineered Retargeting of Viral RNA Replication Complexes to an Alternative Intracellular Membrane. J. Virol.
77: 12193-12202
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Choi, Y. G., Rao, A. L. N.
(2003). Packaging of Brome Mosaic Virus RNA3 Is Mediated through a Bipartite Signal. J. Virol.
77: 9750-9757
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Tang, L., Lin, C.-S., Krishna, N. K., Yeager, M., Schneemann, A., Johnson, J. E.
(2002). Virus-Like Particles of a Fish Nodavirus Display a Capsid Subunit Domain Organization Different from That of Insect Nodaviruses. J. Virol.
76: 6370-6375
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Da Costa, B., Chevalier, C., Henry, C., Huet, J.-C., Petit, S., Lepault, J., Boot, H., Delmas, B.
(2002). The Capsid of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Contains Several Small Peptides Arising from the Maturation Process of pVP2. J. Virol.
76: 2393-2402
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Johnson, K. N., Ball, L. A.
(2001). Recovery of Infectious Pariacoto Virus from cDNA Clones and Identification of Susceptible Cell Lines. J. Virol.
75: 12220-12227
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Nishizawa, T., Takano, R., Muroga, K.
(1999). Mapping a neutralizing epitope on the coat protein of striped jack nervous necrosis virus. J. Gen. Virol.
80: 3023-3027
[Abstract]
[Full Text]