RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Tortorici, M. Alejandra A1 Ghiringhelli, P. Daniel A1 Lozano, Mario E. A1 Albariño, César G. A1 Romanowski, VíctorYR 2001 T1 Zinc-binding properties of Junín virus nucleocapsid protein JF Journal of General Virology, VO 82 IS 1 SP 121 OP 128 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-82-1-121 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB The arenavirus nucleocapsid protein (N) is a highly basic 63 kDa protein with a dual function during the virus life-cycle. First, it is involved in essential steps of genome replication, promoting the synthesis of the full-length antigenomic copy of S RNA, and second it associates with the genomic RNA to form the nucleocapsid. We have expressed the N protein of Junín virus in E. coli and shown that it binds zinc in vitro. This property is in agreement with the presence in the carboxy-terminal region of the N protein of the CX2HX23CX4C sequence, which resembles a classical zinc-finger motif. The specificity for zinc binding was demonstrated by competition with other divalent metal ions. The ability of the predicted motif to bind zinc was established by analysis of a series of N mutants, including truncated variants and amino acid substitutions. In addition, alternative zinc-binding sites were found., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/0022-1317-82-1-121