Capsid protein p24

The Gag protein from retroviruses, also known as p24, forms the inner protein layer of the nucleocapsid. It is composed of two domains, the N-terminal domain (NTD), which contributes to viral core formation, and the C-terminal domain (CTD), which is required for capsid dimerisation, Gag oligomerization and viral formation. This protein performs highly complex orchestrated tasks during the assembly, budding, maturation and infection stages of the viral replication cycle. During viral assembly, the proteins form membrane associations and self-associations that ultimately result in budding of an immature virion from the infected cell. Gag precursors also function during viral assembly to selectively bind and package two plus strands of genomic RNA.