Packaging of the Influenza Virus Genome Is Governed by a Plastic Network of RNA- and Nucleoprotein-Mediated Interactions

The genome of influenza A virus is organized into eight viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs); this provides evolutionary advantages but complicates genome packaging. Although it has been shown that RNA packaging sequences and specific amino acids in the viral nucleoprotein (NP), both components of each vRNP, ensure selective packaging of one copy of each vRNP per virus particle, the required RNA-RNA and RNA-NP interactions remain largely elusive. We identified that the genome packaging mechanism tolerates the mutation of certain individual RNA packaging sequences, while their combined mutation provokes distinct genome packaging defects. Moreover, we found that seven specific amino acid substitutions in NP impair the function of RNA packaging sequences and that this defect is partially restored by another NP amino acid change. Collectively, our data indicate that packaging of the influenza A virus genome is controlled by a redundant and plastic network of RNA/protein interactions, which may facilitate natural reassortment processes.