Proton-driven assembly of the Rous Sarcoma virus capsid protein results in the formation of icosahedral particles.

ABSTRACT: In a mature and infectious retroviral particle, the capsid protein (CA) forms a shell surrounding the genomic RNA and the replicative machinery of the virus. The irregular nature of this capsid shell precludes direct atomic resolution structural analysis. CA hexamers and pentamers are the fundamental building blocks of the capsid, however the pentameric state, in particular, remains poorly characterized. We have developed an efficient in vitro protocol for studying the assembly of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) CA that involves mild acidification and produces structures modeling the authentic viral capsid. These structures include regular spherical particles with T = 1 icosahedral symmetry, built from CA pentamers alone. These particles were subject to cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) and image

SUBMITTER: Hyun JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2865289 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature