Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Structural analyses highlight the constraint of virus evolution to a limited number of capsid protein folds and assembly strategies that result in a functional virion. We report the cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography structures and the results of atomic force microscopy studies of the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), a double-stranded RNA virus with an icosahedral capsid. We found evidence of a new inner shell that might act as an internal scaffold during IBDV assembly. The use of an internal scaffold is reminiscent of tailed dsDNA viruses, which constitute the most successful self-replicating system on Earth. The IBDV scaffold protein is multifunctional and, after capsid maturation, is genome bound to form ribonucleoprotein complexes. IBDV encompasses numerous functional and structural characteristics of RNA and DNA viruses; we suggest that IBDV is a modern descendant of ancestral viruses and comprises different features of current viral lineages.
Source: Journal of Virology
DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00968-18
Institutions: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, IMDEA Nanoscience, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Nacional de Microbiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Center for Information Technology, Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies
Language: English
Subfield: Animal Science and Zoology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2883353754