Properties and growth mechanism of the ordered aggregation of a model RNA by the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein: An electron microscopy investigation

NCp7, the nucleocapsid protein of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1, induces an ordered aggregation of RNAs, a mechanism that is thought to be involved in the NCp7-induced promotion of nucleic acid annealing. To further investigate this aggregation the morphology and the properties of the NCp7-induced aggregates of the model RNA homoribopolymer, polyA, were investigated by electron microscopy in various conditions. In almost all the tested...