Release of ribonucleic acid from human common cold HRV 2 virus in acidic medium

The mechanism of the release of viral RNA from the capsid under the conditions that model this process in cell endosomes upon the virus infection is studied by atomic force microscopy using the human common cold virus (HRV 2 rhinovirus) as an example. Characteristic images of the RNA-protein complex resulted from the release of nucleic acid from virus at pH 4.8–6.0 are presented. It is revealed that, upon its release, RNA undergoes a number of conformational transformations in free form or in a complex with viral protein.