Researchers at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer have developed a framework to enable them to understand the behaviour of RNA when confined within the tight quarters of virus particles, like those of the Zika virus. Like other polymers, biopolymers such as RNA behave differently when forced into a small space.The researchers used a framework which combined molecular dynamics simulations with experimental measurements of contacts within unconfined and confined RNA molecules.They found that RNA is glassy and exhibits a liquid crystalline order, and that genome circularisation - a long-range interaction between the two ends of the viral RNA important for virus replication - is facilitated under confinement.The folding of the Zika genome both within the confinement of the infectious particle (virion) and in cells is important to biomedicine because it plays a role in the lifecycle of the virus. Our work both provides insight into the Zika virus, which is a WHO priority pathogen, and provides a framework for studying other RNAs that is potentially applicable, for example, to RNA therapeutics confined within nanoparticles. Dr Yavor Novev Cross-Disciplinary Post-Doctoral Fellow Related Links Read the full paper in PNAS Tags 2026 This article was published on Thursday 5 November 2026
