TY - JOUR
T1 - Mutational analysis of positively charged amino acid residues of Uukuniemi phlebovirus nucleocapsid protein
AU - Katz, Anna
AU - Freiberg, Alexander N.
AU - Backström, Vera
AU - Holm, Liisa
AU - Vaheri, Antti
AU - Flick, Ramon
AU - Plyusnin, Alexander
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Helsinki Biomedical Graduate School , Sigrid Jusélius Foundation , and Finnish Cultural Foundation . We are grateful to late Ralf Pettersson for valuable comments and friendly support.
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of positively charged amino acid residues for the Uukuniemi virus (UUKV) N protein functionality. Based on phlebovirus nucleocapsid (N) protein alignments and 3D-structure predictions of UUKV N protein, 14 positively charged residues were chosen as targets for the mutagenesis. The impact of mutations to the N protein functionality was analyzed using minigenome-, virus-like particle-, and mammalian two-hybrid-assays. Seven of the mutations affected the functional competence in all three assays, while others had milder impact or no impact at all. In the 3D-model of UUKV N protein, five of the affected residues, R61, R64, R73, R98 and R115, were located either within or in close proximity to the central cavity that could potentially bind RNA.
AB - The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of positively charged amino acid residues for the Uukuniemi virus (UUKV) N protein functionality. Based on phlebovirus nucleocapsid (N) protein alignments and 3D-structure predictions of UUKV N protein, 14 positively charged residues were chosen as targets for the mutagenesis. The impact of mutations to the N protein functionality was analyzed using minigenome-, virus-like particle-, and mammalian two-hybrid-assays. Seven of the mutations affected the functional competence in all three assays, while others had milder impact or no impact at all. In the 3D-model of UUKV N protein, five of the affected residues, R61, R64, R73, R98 and R115, were located either within or in close proximity to the central cavity that could potentially bind RNA.
KW - Mutational analysis
KW - Negative-strand RNA virus
KW - Nucleocapsid protein
KW - Oligomerization
KW - Phlebovirus
KW - RNA binding
KW - Uukuniemi virus
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U2 - 10.1016/j.virusres.2012.04.003
DO - 10.1016/j.virusres.2012.04.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 22808531
AN - SCOPUS:84861482042
SN - 0168-1702
VL - 167
SP - 118
EP - 123
JO - Virus Research
JF - Virus Research
IS - 1
ER -