Retroviral nucleocapsid proteins possess potent nucleic acid strand renaturation activity

The nucleocapsid protein (NC) is the major genomic RNA binding protein that plays integral roles in the structure and replication of all animal retroviruses. In this report, select biochemical properties of recombinant Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) and HIV-1 NCs are compared. Evidence is presented that two types of saturated Zn2 NC-polynucleotide complexes can be formed under conditions of low [NaCl] that differ in apparent site-size (n = 8...