Visualization of a missing link in retrovirus capsid assembly.

ABSTRACT: For a retrovirus such as HIV to be infectious, a properly formed capsid is needed; however, unusually among viruses, retrovirus capsids are highly variable in structure. According to the fullerene conjecture, they are composed of hexamers and pentamers of capsid protein (CA), with the shape of a capsid varying according to how the twelve pentamers are distributed and its size depending on the number of hexamers. Hexamers have been studied in planar and tubular arrays, but the predicted pentamers have not been observed. Here we report cryo-electron microscopic analyses of two in-vitro-assembled capsids of Rous sarcoma virus. Both are icosahedrally symmetric: one is composed of 12 pentamers, and the other of 12 pentamers and 20 hexamers. Fitting of atomic models of the two CA domains into th

SUBMITTER: Cardone G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2721793 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature