RNA topology remolds electrostatic stabilization of viruses

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how RNA secondary structure enhances viral genome encapsulation and assembly efficiency through electrostatic interactions, providing insights into viral stability and replication.

Contribution

It introduces a field theoretic model showing that RNA branching optimizes genome packaging and assembly in viruses, a novel insight into viral electrostatic stabilization.

Findings

RNA secondary structure increases genome encapsulation efficiency

Viruses out-compete cellular RNAs during replication due to structural advantages

Electrostatic interactions are key to viral assembly stability

Abstract

Simple RNA viruses efficiently encapsulate their genome into a nano-sized protein shell: the capsid. Spontaneous co-assembly of the genome and the capsid proteins is driven predominantly by electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged RNA and the positively charged inner capsid wall. Using field theoretic formulation we show that the inherently branched RNA secondary structure allows viruses to maximize the amount of encapsulated genome and make assembly more efficient, allowing viral RNAs to out-compete cellular RNAs during replication in infected host cells.