Elucidating structural and mechanistic determinants in the assembly of the baculovirus infectious particles

Baculoviruses, widely utilised as biotechnological tools, remain incompletely understood in terms of their nucleocapsid structure, assembly mechanisms, and evolutionary origins. Insight into the architecture and assembly of the nucleocapsid is essential for addressing these knowledge gaps. In this thesis, I investigated the structural and mechanistic features of the baculovirus nucleocapsid using molecular biology approaches. Conclusively, these studies provide a deeper structural understanding of the nucleocapsid, which protects the viral genome, and highlight its potential for further development and application as a versatile biological tool.