Crystal Structure of a Nucleocapsid-Like Nucleoprotein-RNA Complex of Respiratory Syncytial Virus

RSV in 3D Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes pneumonia and bronchiolitis in infants. RSV is an RNA virus in which the genomic RNA forms part of a nuclease-resistant helical ribonucleoprotein complex. Tawar et al. (p. 1279 ) now use x-ray and electron microscopy data to model the structure of this nucleocapsid complex and show how it can template RNA synthesis. The crystal structure shows RNA wrapped around a decameric ring of nucleocapsid protein. Combining this structure with electron microscopy data gives a model that shows how polymerase might read out the RNA bases without disassembling the nucleocapsid helix.