ABSTRACT
The place of the RNA phages, as well as their regular and chimeric VLPs in the global history of viral architecture is invaluable, since they have contributed essentially to the substantial development of the spatial characterization and 3D resolution of biological subjects by step-wise introduction of electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, electron cryomicroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance. The present chapter is a logical continuation of the Chapter 9. The gap between these two chapters was necessary to came over the two key concepts, namely, the expression of the RNA phage genes and the generation of chimeric VLPs.
The full story of the high resolution investigations on the RNA phages and their VLPs is narrated. The novel sensational data on the maturation protein location within the virions, as well as the data on the structural basis of the RNA recognition and packaging are presented. The recent success with the high resolution structures of the chimeric VLPs is highlighted.
