Figure 5. Ebolavirus nucleoprotein RNA binding.
The potential of different NP N-terminal domain constructs to bind a FITC-labeled 18 nucleotide RNA was assessed. Binding was measured by changes in the fluorescence anisotropy of the FITC-RNA with increasing protein concentrations. The oligomeric NP 1-450 (squares) shows 50% binding at a protein concentration of ~20 nM. No appreciable binding is observed for the monomeric NP°-VP35 complex (circles, VP35 15-60-NP34-367 protein fusion) or for the monomeric NP° core (triangles, NP 34-367).