Structural perspective on the formation of ribonucleoprotein complex in negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses.

Negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses (NSRVs) possess a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex composed of viral polymerase and genomic RNA surrounded by viral nucleoprotein. The RNP facilitates virus replication, transcription, and assembly. To date, a large body of structural work, through crystallography and electron microscopy (EM) analysis, has been performed to aid understanding the molecular mechanism of RNP formation in NSRVs, and provides great potential for the discovery of antiviral agents targeting viral RNP formation.