TY - JOUR
T1 - An icosahedral algal virus has a complex unique vertex decorated by a spike
AU - Cherrier, Mickaël V.
AU - Kostyuchenko, Victor A.
AU - Xiao, Chuan
AU - Bowman, Valorie D.
AU - Battisti, Anthony J.
AU - Yan, Xiaodong
AU - Chipman, Paul R.
AU - Baker, Timothy S.
AU - Van Etten, James L.
AU - Rossmann, Michael G.
PY - 2009/7/7
Y1 - 2009/7/7
N2 - Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus-1 is an icosahedrally shaped, 1,900-Å-diameter virus that infects unicellular eukaryotic green algae. A 5-fold symmetric, 3D reconstruction using cryoelectron microscopy images has now shown that the quasiicosahedral virus has a unique vertex, with a pocket on the inside and a spike structure on the outside of the capsid. The pocket might contain enzymes for use in the initial stages of infection. The unique vertex consists of virally coded proteins, some of which have been identified. Comparison of shape, size, and location of the spike with similar features in bacteriophages T4 and P22 suggests that the spike might be a cell-puncturing device. Similar asymmetric features may have been missed in previous analyses of many other viruses that had been assumed to be perfectly icosahedral.
AB - Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus-1 is an icosahedrally shaped, 1,900-Å-diameter virus that infects unicellular eukaryotic green algae. A 5-fold symmetric, 3D reconstruction using cryoelectron microscopy images has now shown that the quasiicosahedral virus has a unique vertex, with a pocket on the inside and a spike structure on the outside of the capsid. The pocket might contain enzymes for use in the initial stages of infection. The unique vertex consists of virally coded proteins, some of which have been identified. Comparison of shape, size, and location of the spike with similar features in bacteriophages T4 and P22 suggests that the spike might be a cell-puncturing device. Similar asymmetric features may have been missed in previous analyses of many other viruses that had been assumed to be perfectly icosahedral.
KW - 5-fold averaging
KW - Cell entry
KW - Cryoelectron microscopy reconstruction
KW - Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus-1
KW - Specialized vertex protein
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0904716106
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0904716106
M3 - Article
C2 - 19541619
AN - SCOPUS:67650477036
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 106
SP - 11085
EP - 11089
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 27
ER -