1. Structure and Dynamics of the Unassembled Nucleoprotein of Rabies Virus in Complex with Its Phosphoprotein Chaperone Module.
- Author
-
Gérard FCA, Bourhis JM, Mas C, Branchard A, Vu DD, Varhoshkova S, Leyrat C, and Jamin M
- Subjects
- Nucleoproteins metabolism, Protein Binding, Nucleocapsid Proteins genetics, Molecular Chaperones metabolism, Phosphoproteins genetics, RNA metabolism, RNA, Viral metabolism, Rabies virus genetics
- Abstract
As for all non-segmented negative RNA viruses, rabies virus has its genome packaged in a linear assembly of nucleoprotein (N), named nucleocapsid. The formation of new nucleocapsids during virus replication in cells requires the production of soluble N protein in complex with its phosphoprotein (P) chaperone. In this study, we reconstituted a soluble heterodimeric complex between an armless N protein of rabies virus (RABV), lacking its N-terminal subdomain (N
NT-ARM ), and a peptide encompassing the N0 chaperon module of the P protein. We showed that the chaperone module undergoes a disordered-order transition when it assembles with N0 and measured an affinity in the low nanomolar range using a competition assay. We solved the crystal structure of the complex at a resolution of 2.3 Å, unveiling the details of the conserved interfaces. MD simulations showed that both the chaperon module of P and RNA-mediated polymerization reduced the ability of the RNA binding cavity to open and close. Finally, by reconstituting a complex with full-length P protein, we demonstrated that each P dimer could independently chaperon two N0 molecules.- Published
- 2022
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