Self-assembly of dengue virus empty capsid-like particles in solution

Nucleocapsid (NC) assembly is an essential step of the virus replication cycle. It ensures genome protection and transmission among hosts. Flaviviruses are human viruses for which envelope structure is well known, whereas no information on NC organization is available. Here we designed a dengue virus capsid protein (DENVC) mutant in which a highly positive spot conferred by arginine 85 in α4-helix was replaced by a cysteine residue, simultaneously removing the positive charge and restricting the intermolecular motion through the formation of a disulfide cross-link. We showed that the mutant self-assembles into capsid-like particles (CLP) in solution without nucleic acids. Using biophysical techniques, we investigated capsid assembly thermodynamics, showing that an efficient assembly is related to an increased DENVC stability due to α4/α4′ motion restriction. To our knowledge, this is the first time that flaviviruses’ empty capsid assembly is obtained in solution, revealing the R85C mutant as a powerful tool to understand the NC assembly mechanism.