Ultrastructural Organization of Recombinant Marburg Virus Nucleoprotein: Comparison with Marburg Virus Inclusions

HeLa cells expressing the recombinant Marburg virus (MBGV) nucleoprotein (NP) have been studied by immunoelectron microscopy. It was found that MBGV NPs assembled into large aggregates which were in close association with membranes of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Further analysis of these aggregates revealed that NPs formed tubule-like structures which were arranged in a hexagonal pattern. A similar pattern of preformed nucleocapsids was detected in intracellular inclusions induced by MBGV infection. Our data indicated that MBGV NP is able to form nucleocapsid-like structures in the absence of the authentic viral genome and other nucleocapsid-associated proteins.