Fig. 3: Genetic strategy used for the generation of Qβ and Qβhp VLPs.

Top panel: expression of Qβ VLPs was achieved by cloning the Qβ coat protein open-reading frame under the T7 promoter; monomers self-assemble drandomly incorporating E.coli RNA. Bottom panel: for Qβhp VLPs expression, a hairpin structure was inserted immediately downstream of the stop codon of the gene encoding the Qβ coat protein; monomers self-assembled incorporating mainly Qβhp RNA.