Work

Three dimensional imaging of the intracellular assembly of a functional viral RNA replicase complex

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Positive-strand RNA viruses, which can be devastating pathogens in humans, animals and plants, replicate their genomes on intracellular membranes. Here, we describe the three-dimensional ultrastructural organization of a tombusvirus replicase in yeast, a valuable model for exploring virus-host interactions. We visualized the intracellular distribution of a viral replicase protein using metal-tagging transmission electron microscopy, a highly sensitive nanotechnology whose full potential remains to be developed. These three-dimensional images show how viral replicase molecules are organized when they are incorporated into the active domains of the intracellular replication compartment. Our approach provides a means to study protein activation mechanisms in cells and to identify targets for new antiviral compounds.

Source: Journal of Cell Science

DOI: 10.1242/jcs.181586

Authors: Isabel Fernández de Castro, José J. Fernández, Daniel Barajas, Peter D. Nagy, Cristina Risco

Institutions: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, University of Kentucky

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications

Subfield: Structural Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

Awards: Key role of the multifunctional translation elongation factor in virus replication, G593288585