Ke. Richmond et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF THE NUCLEIC-ACID BINDING-PROPERTIES OF TOMATO SPOTTED WILT VIRUS NUCLEOCAPSID PROTEIN, Virology (New York, N.Y. Print), 248(1), 1998, pp. 6-11
Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV) is the type member of the plant-
infecting viruses of the genus Tospovirus in the family Bunyaviridae.
The three TSWV RNAs are encapsidated with nucleocapsid (N) protein to
form ribonucleoprotein (RNP) which serves as the template for viral tr
anscription and replication. Regions of the open reading frame coding
for the N protein on the small (S) RNA were subcloned into pET protein
expression vectors and expressed in Escherichia coil BL21 (DE3) cells
. Full-length N, N amino and carboxy halves, and two N carboxy-termina
l regions were expressed and isolated by metal chelate affinity chroma
tography. The N protein, both of its halves and the extreme carboxy-te
rminal region, bound cooperatively and irrespective of sequence to rad
iolabeled single-stranded RNA produced by runoff transcription of clon
es of either TSWV S RNA or cowpea chlorotic mottle virus RNA3. N prote
in did not bind to radiolabeled double-stranded TSWV RNA. The density
of the synthetic RNase-sensitive N protein-RNA complexes was 1.32 g/ml
, similar to the density of authentic Bunyaviridae RNPs. These studies
are the first to indicate differences in the nucleic acid binding abi
lities of Tospovirus and Hantavirus nucleocapsid proteins, the only ch
aracterized nucleocapsid proteins of the family Bunyaviridae. (C) 1998
Academic Press.