Download MendeleyCryo-Em Model of the Bullet-Shaped Vesicular Stomatitis Virus.
Ge, P., Tsao, J., Schein, S., Green, T.J., Luo, M., Zhou, Z.H.(2010) Science 327: 689
- PubMed: 20133572
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1181766
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
2WYY - PubMed Abstract:
Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a bullet-shaped rhabdovirus and a model system of negative-strand RNA viruses. Through direct visualization by means of cryo-electron microscopy, we show that each virion contains two nested, left-handed helices: an outer helix of matrix protein M and an inner helix of nucleoprotein N and RNA. M has a hub domain with four contact sites that link to neighboring M and N subunits, providing rigidity by clamping adjacent turns of the nucleocapsid. Side-by-side interactions between neighboring N subunits are critical for the nucleocapsid to form a bullet shape, and structure-based mutagenesis results support this description. Together, our data suggest a mechanism of VSV assembly in which the nucleocapsid spirals from the tip to become the helical trunk, both subsequently framed and rigidified by the M layer.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-7364, USA.
