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About the Authors:
Timothy J. Mottram
Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Ping Li
Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Isabelle Dietrich
Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Current address: Experimental Medicine, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Xiaohong Shi
Roles Investigation, Methodology, Resources
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Benjamin Brennan
Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Margus Varjak
Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Alain Kohl
Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1523-9458Abstract
Rift Valley fever phlebovirus (RVFV; Phenuiviridae, Phlebovirus) is an important mosquito-borne pathogen of both humans and ruminants. The RVFV genome is composed of tripartite, single stranded, negative or ambisense RNAs. The small (S) segment encodes both the nucleocapsid protein (N) and the non-structural protein (NSs). The N protein is responsible for the formation of the viral ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes, which are essential in the virus life cycle and for the transcription and replication of the viral genome. There is currently limited knowledge surrounding the roles of the RVFV nucleocapsid protein in viral infection other than its key functions: N protein multimerisation, encapsidation of the RNA genome and interactions with the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, L. By bioinformatic comparison of the N sequences of fourteen phleboviruses, mutational analysis, minigenome assays and packaging assays, we have further characterised the RVFV N protein. Amino acids P11 and F149 in RVFV N play an essential role in the function of RNPs and are neither associated with N protein multimerisation nor known nucleocapsid protein functions and may have...