An icosahedral algal virus has a complex unique vertex decorated by a spike
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus-1 is an icosahedrally shaped, 1,900-A-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.
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G2339259819, Virus Assembly and Transmission, Structure and Function of Icosahedral Viruses, Structure and function of icosahedral viruses, Microscopy & Image Analysis of Unstained Macromolecules, Microscopy & Image Analysis of Unstained Macromolecules, G4382982337, G5453938100, DNA Replication and Gene Expression of Chlorella Viruses, G835026943, G9000072102, G9000237854
OpenAlex ID: W2147202366