3r0r

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is a T=1 non-enveloped icosahedral virus that has had severe impact on the swine industry. Here we report the crystal structure of an N-terminally truncated PCV2 virus-like particle at 2.3 A resolution, and the cryo-EM image reconstruction of a full length PCV2 virus-like particle at 9.6 A resolution. This is the first atomic structure of a Circovirus. The crystal structure revealed that the capsid protein fold is a canonical viral jelly-roll. The loops connecting the strands of the jelly-roll define the limited features of the surface. Sulfate ions interacting with the surface, and electrostatic potential calculations strongly suggest a heparan sulfate binding site that allows PCV2 to gain entry into the cell. The crystal structure also allowed previously determined epitopes of the capsid to be visualized. The cryo-EM image reconstruction showed that the location of the N-terminus, absent in the crystal structure, is inside the capsid. As the N-terminus was previously shown to be antigenic it may externalize through viral 'breathing'.

The 2.3 A Structure of Porcine Circovirus 2.,Khayat R, Brunn N, Speir JA, Hardham JM, Ankenbauer RG, Schneemann A, Johnson JE J Virol. 2011 Jun 1. PMID:21632760^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.