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Journal of Virology, March 2003, p. 2922-2927, Vol. 77, No. 5
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.5.2922-2927.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Nucleocapsid-Independent Specific Viral RNA Packaging via Viral Envelope Protein and Viral RNA Signal

Krishna Narayanan, Chun-Jen Chen, Junko Maeda,{dagger} and Shinji Makino*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, Texas 77555-1019

Received 19 September 2002/ Accepted 26 November 2002

For any of the enveloped RNA viruses studied to date, recognition of a specific RNA packaging signal by the virus's nucleocapsid (N) protein is the first step described in the process of viral RNA packaging. In the murine coronavirus a selective interaction between the viral transmembrane envelope protein M and the viral ribonucleoprotein complex, composed of N protein and viral RNA containing a short cis-acting RNA element, the packaging signal, determines the selective RNA packaging into virus particles. In this report we show that expressed coronavirus envelope protein M specifically interacted with coexpressed noncoronavirus RNA transcripts containing the short viral packaging signal in the absence of coronavirus N protein. Furthermore, this M protein-packaging signal interaction led to specific packaging of the packaging signal-containing RNA transcripts into coronavirus-like particles in the absence of N protein. These findings not only highlight a novel RNA packaging mechanism for an enveloped virus, where the specific RNA packaging can occur without the core or N protein, but also point to a new, biologically important general model of precise and selective interaction between transmembrane proteins and specific RNA elements.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77555-1019. Phone: (409) 772-2323. Fax: (409) 772-5065. E-mail: shmakino{at}utmb.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 108-8639.

Journal of Virology, March 2003, p. 2922-2927, Vol. 77, No. 5
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.5.2922-2927.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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