Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1997 Jan;71(1):325–330. doi: 10.1128/jvi.71.1.325-330.1997

Three-dimensional structure of infectious bursal disease virus determined by electron cryomicroscopy.

B Böttcher 1, N A Kiselev 1, V Y Stel'Mashchuk 1, N A Perevozchikova 1, A V Borisov 1, R A Crowther 1
PMCID: PMC191054  PMID: 8985353

Abstract

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), a member of the Birnaviridae group, is a commercially important pathogen of chickens. From electron micrographs of frozen, hydrated, unstained specimens, we have computed a three-dimensional map of IBDV at about 2 nm resolution. The map shows that the structure of the virus is based on a T=13 lattice and that the subunits are predominantly trimer clustered. The subunits close to the fivefold symmetry axes are at a larger radius than those close to the two- or threefold axes, giving the capsid a markedly nonspherical shape. The trimer units on the outer surface protrude from a continuous shell of density. On the inner surface, the trimers appear as Y-shaped units, but the set of units surrounding the fivefold axes appears to be missing. It is likely that the outer trimers correspond to the protein VP2, carrying the dominant neutralizing epitope, and the inner trimers correspond to protein VP3, which has a basic carboxy-terminal tail expected to interact with the packaged RNA.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (709.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Azad A. A., Jagadish M. N., Brown M. A., Hudson P. J. Deletion mapping and expression in Escherichia coli of the large genomic segment of a birnavirus. Virology. 1987 Nov;161(1):145–152. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(87)90180-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Becht H., Müller H., Müller H. K. Comparative studies on structural and antigenic properties of two serotypes of infectious bursal disease virus. J Gen Virol. 1988 Mar;69(Pt 3):631–640. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-69-3-631. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bellare J. R., Davis H. T., Scriven L. E., Talmon Y. Controlled environment vitrification system: an improved sample preparation technique. J Electron Microsc Tech. 1988 Sep;10(1):87–111. doi: 10.1002/jemt.1060100111. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Böttcher B., Crowther R. A. Difference imaging reveals ordered regions of RNA in turnip yellow mosaic virus. Structure. 1996 Apr 15;4(4):387–394. doi: 10.1016/s0969-2126(96)00044-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chettle N., Stuart J. C., Wyeth P. J. Outbreak of virulent infectious bursal disease in East Anglia. Vet Rec. 1989 Sep 2;125(10):271–272. doi: 10.1136/vr.125.10.271. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Crowther R. A., Kiselev N. A., Böttcher B., Berriman J. A., Borisova G. P., Ose V., Pumpens P. Three-dimensional structure of hepatitis B virus core particles determined by electron cryomicroscopy. Cell. 1994 Jun 17;77(6):943–950. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90142-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Crowther R. A. Procedures for three-dimensional reconstruction of spherical viruses by Fourier synthesis from electron micrographs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1971 May 27;261(837):221–230. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1971.0054. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dobos P., Hill B. J., Hallett R., Kells D. T., Becht H., Teninges D. Biophysical and biochemical characterization of five animal viruses with bisegmented double-stranded RNA genomes. J Virol. 1979 Nov;32(2):593–605. doi: 10.1128/jvi.32.2.593-605.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dryden K. A., Wang G., Yeager M., Nibert M. L., Coombs K. M., Furlong D. B., Fields B. N., Baker T. S. Early steps in reovirus infection are associated with dramatic changes in supramolecular structure and protein conformation: analysis of virions and subviral particles by cryoelectron microscopy and image reconstruction. J Cell Biol. 1993 Sep;122(5):1023–1041. doi: 10.1083/jcb.122.5.1023. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dubochet J., Adrian M., Chang J. J., Homo J. C., Lepault J., McDowall A. W., Schultz P. Cryo-electron microscopy of vitrified specimens. Q Rev Biophys. 1988 May;21(2):129–228. doi: 10.1017/s0033583500004297. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Grimes J., Basak A. K., Roy P., Stuart D. The crystal structure of bluetongue virus VP7. Nature. 1995 Jan 12;373(6510):167–170. doi: 10.1038/373167a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hudson P. J., McKern N. M., Power B. E., Azad A. A. Genomic structure of the large RNA segment of infectious bursal disease virus. Nucleic Acids Res. 1986 Jun 25;14(12):5001–5012. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.12.5001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kibenge F. S., Dhillon A. S., Russell R. G. Biochemistry and immunology of infectious bursal disease virus. J Gen Virol. 1988 Aug;69(Pt 8):1757–1775. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-69-8-1757. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Metcalf P., Cyrklaff M., Adrian M. The three-dimensional structure of reovirus obtained by cryo-electron microscopy. EMBO J. 1991 Nov;10(11):3129–3136. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb04874.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ozel M., Gelderblom H. Capsid symmetry of viruses of the proposed Birnavirus group. Arch Virol. 1985;84(3-4):149–161. doi: 10.1007/BF01378968. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Prasad B. V., Wang G. J., Clerx J. P., Chiu W. Three-dimensional structure of rotavirus. J Mol Biol. 1988 Jan 20;199(2):269–275. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90313-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Prasad B. V., Yamaguchi S., Roy P. Three-dimensional structure of single-shelled bluetongue virus. J Virol. 1992 Apr;66(4):2135–2142. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.4.2135-2142.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES