Rule of six (viruses)

Electron micrograph of the ribonucleoprotein of mumps virus, which has a herring-bone like structure
The rule of six is feature of some paramyxovirus genomes. These are RNA viruses which have genes made from RNA and not DNA, and their whole genome – that is the number of nucleotides – is always a multiple of six. This is because during their replication, these viruses are dependent on nucleoprotein molecules that each bind to six nucleotides.[1]
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.