Nucleocapsid assembly of positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses is driven by protein-protein and protein-protein interactions. In vitro studies in plant and animal, viruses have shown us that the genomic RNA is not just the molecule that contains the viral genetic information, but that it can be a scaffold or nucleation site for nucleocapsid assembly. However, some viruses like Hepatitis B or Polio can assemble, in vivo, into empty virions. Also, in vitro assembly of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus and brome mosaic virus can produce empty virions. Altogether, these results tell us that it is possible to create empty nucleocapsids that normally should contain RNA. It is important to mention that empty capsids are extremely common in double-stranded DNA viruses.

 

Our goal is to create empty virions with  SARS-CoV-2, Chikungunya, and Zika virus. To do so, we are generating efficient expression systems for mammalian cultured cells that can express by transfection with a single plasmid all the structural proteins of these viruses. Also, we are generating clones that allow us to understand the protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions that lead to the assembly of these viruses in cultured cells.

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