PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Florian Geiger
AU  - Guido Papa
AU  - William E. Arter
AU  - Julia Acker
AU  - Kadi L. Saar
AU  - Nadia Erkamp
AU  - Runzhang Qi
AU  - Jack Bravo
AU  - Sebastian Strauss
AU  - Georg Krainer
AU  - Oscar R. Burrone
AU  - Ralf Jungmann
AU  - Tuomas P.J. Knowles
AU  - Hanna Engelke
AU  - Alexander Borodavka
TI  - Rotavirus Replication Factories Are Complex Ribonucleoprotein Condensates
AID  - 10.1101/2020.12.18.423429
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.12.18.423429
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/20/2020.12.18.423429.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/20/2020.12.18.423429.full
AB  - RNA viruses induce formation of subcellular organelles that provide microenvironments conducive to their replication. Here we show that replication factories of rotaviruses represent protein-RNA condensates that are formed via liquid-liquid phase separation. We demonstrate that rotavirus proteins NSP5 and NSP2 undergo phase separation in vitro and form RNA-rich condensates in vivo that can be reversibly dissolved by aliphatic diols. During infection, these RNA-protein condensates became less dynamic and impervious to aliphatic diols, indicating a transition from a liquid to solid state. Some aspects of assembly of rotavirus replication factories mirror the formation of cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein granules, while the selective enrichment of viral transcripts appears to be a unique feature of these condensates. Such complex RNA-protein condensates that underlie replication of RNA viruses represent an attractive target for developing novel therapeutic approaches.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.