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Review
. 2010 Oct 7;6(10):e1001007.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1001007.

Retroviral RNA dimerization and packaging: the what, how, when, where, and why

Silas F Johnson  1 , Alice Telesnitsky
Affiliations
Review

Retroviral RNA dimerization and packaging: the what, how, when, where, and why

Silas F Johnson et al. PLoS Pathog. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Retroviral RNA dimerization and packaging.
The description of retrovirus genomic RNA dimerization and packaging is based on a representative co-infected cell and depicts properties of C-type retroviruses such as HIV-1 and MLV. Note that this figure represents concepts schematically and is not intended to accurately represent structures or scale. (A) What is packaged: two genetically complete but nicked copies of plus sense gRNA (shown in red at top or green at bottom) are packaged within the capsid core and joined by a dimer linkage. The co-packaged gRNAs are condensed in the core and bound by NC (shown as green circles). (B) How gRNAs are recruited: initial gRNA dimerization occurs via kissing interactions between palindromic stem loops. Subsequent basepairing register-shifts that occur during dimer linkage maturation expose single-stranded NC binding motifs (indicated in yellow) that were previously basepaired and thus sequestered in gRNA monomers, allowing for Gag binding during recruitment. (C) When gRNAs associate in dimers: the point at which RNA dimerization partners first associate is different for HIV-1 and MLV. MLV gRNA dimers first associate near sites of transcription in the nucleus, which leads to disproportionately large amounts of one homodimer or the other (shown in red at top and green at bottom). HIV-1 gRNA dimers first associate in the cytoplasm, leading to a random assortment of homodimeric and heterodimeric gRNAs. (D) Where gRNAs join assembling virions: gRNAs may form subassemblies with Gag in the cytoplasm (shown at top) or may associate at the plasma membrane (shown at bottom) after active transport separate from all or most Gags. (E) Why two gRNAs are packaged: the packaging of two gRNAs may aid in packaging specificity as well as the promotion of genomic integrity. In addition, the packaging of two genetically distinct gRNAs (shown as a red/green heterodimer) promotes genetic recombination, which leads to genetic diversity in viral progeny.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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