Article

Roles of the coding and noncoding regions of rift valley Fever virus RNA genome segments in viral RNA packaging.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA.
Journal of Virology (impact factor: 5.4). 01/2012; 86(7):4034-9. DOI:10.1128/JVI.06700-11 pp.4034-9
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT We characterized the RNA elements involved in the packaging of Rift Valley fever virus RNA genome segments, L, M, and S. The 5'-terminal 25 nucleotides of each RNA segment were equally competent for RNA packaging and carried an RNA packaging signal, which overlapped with the RNA replication signal. Only the deletion mutants of L RNA, but not full-length L RNA, were efficiently packaged, implying the possible requirement of RNA compaction for L RNA packaging.

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Keywords

5'-terminal 25 nucleotides
 
full-length L RNA
 
L RNA packaging
 
packaging
 
possible requirement
 
Rift Valley fever virus RNA genome segments
 
RNA compaction
 
RNA packaging
 
RNA packaging signal