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. 2019 Dec 23;12(1):18. doi: 10.3390/v12010018

Figure 1.

Figure 1

The assembly of bacteriophage MS2 coat proteins into VLPs (virus-like particles). The genome of MS2 bacteriophage (top image) with the coat protein (light blue). Cloning of the coat protein into a bacterial expression vector and expression of the protein in a suitable bacterial host gives rise to coat proteins (capsomers). The capsomeres form pentamers and hexamers; twelve pentamers and 20 hexamers spontaneously self-assemble to form a VLP (composed of 180 capsomeres). RdRP stands for RNA dependent RNA polymerase.