Identification and Characterization of the Sobevirus Coat Protein-Binding Site

通过对烟草花叶病毒(TMV)的研究，目前已经确定了几种正义RNA病毒的高分辨结构，包括杆状和等面体的高分辨结构，并对杆状RNA病毒组装中的分子事件进行了更详细的表征。相比之下，人们对蛋白质：RNA和蛋白质：指导二十面体RNA病毒组装的蛋白质相互作用知之甚少。本文提出的实验旨在确定南方菜豆花叶病毒SBMV外壳蛋白结合位点的RNA序列和结构，并表征该RP-复合体。这些结果将提供二十面体病毒组装起始事件中RNA和蛋白质之间特定相互作用的详细图像，它们也将对RNA：蛋白质相互作用的研究起到指导作用。此外，拟议的实验将直接测试二十面体病毒组装的模型，并将允许将SBMV组装与另一种小型RNA病毒芜菁皱缩病毒(TVC)的组装进行比较，PI曾担任博士后研究员。病毒组装是病毒与宿主相互作用的关键组成部分。该项目将有助于我们了解这组植物病毒的寄主范围和症状严重程度，以及它们引起的经济上重要的植物病害。//

The high resolution structures of several positive-sense RNA viruses, both rod-shaped and iscosahedral, have now been determined, and the molecular events in the assembly of rod- shaped RNA viruses have been characterized in great detail through the study of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). By comparison, relatively little is known about the protein: RNA and protein: protein interactions which direct the assembly of the icosahedral RNA viruses. The experiments proposed here are designed to determine the RNA sequence and structure of the southern bean mosaic virus SBMV coat protein-binding site, and to characterize the rp-complex. The results will provide a detailed picture of the specific interaction between RNA and protein in the initiation event of icosahedral virus assembly, and they will also be relevant to the study of RNA: protein interactions in general. In addition, the proposed experiments will directly test the models for icosahedral virus assembly and will allow comparisons to be made between SBMV assembly and the assembly of another small RNA virus, turnip crinkle virus (TVC), with the PI has worked as a postdoctoral fellow. %%% Viral assembly is a key component in virus-host interactions. This project will contribute toward our understanding the host range and symptom severity of this group of plant virus and the economically important plant disease they cause. //