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. 1993 Oct 1;90(19):9095–9099. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.19.9095

Three-dimensional structure of a membrane-containing virus.

A M Paredes 1, D T Brown 1, R Rothnagel 1, W Chiu 1, R J Schoepp 1, R E Johnston 1, B V Prasad 1
PMCID: PMC47508  PMID: 8415660

Abstract

The structure of Sindbis virus was determined by electron cryomicroscopy. The virion contains two icosahedral shells of viral-encoded proteins separated by a membrane bilayer of cellular origin. The three-dimensional structure of the ice-embedded intact Sindbis virus, reconstructed from electron images, unambiguously shows that proteins in both shells are arranged with the same icosahedral lattice of triangulation number T = 4. These studies also provide structural evidence of contact between the glycoprotein and the nucleocapsid protein across the membrane bilayer. The structural organization of Sindbis virus has profound implications for the morphogenesis of the alphaviruses. The observed interactions confirm stoichiometric and specific protein associations that may be crucial for virion stability and predict a mechanism for assembly.

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Selected References

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

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