Viruses helical

This virus helical structure is commonly seen in ssRNA virus. It has a capsid with a central cavity or hollow tube that is made by proteins self-assanbled in a circular fashion, creating a disc-like shape. The disc shapes are attached helically creating a tube comprising the nucleic acid in the middle. An example of a virus with a helical symmetry is the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) (Fig. 15.1A). 

Figure 16.17 The subunit structure of the bacteriophage MS2 coat protein is different from those of other sphericai viruses. The 129 amino acid polypeptide chain is folded into an up-and-down antiparallei P sheet of five strands, P3-P7, with a hairpin at the amino end and two C-terminai a helices. (Adapted from a diagram provided by L. Liijas.)...

Antiparallel tt-helix proteins are structures heavily dominated by a-helices. The simplest way to pack helices is in an antiparallel manner, and most of the proteins in this class consist of bundles of antiparallel helices. Many of these exhibit a slight (15°) left-handed twist of the helix bundle. Figure 6.29 shows a representative sample of antiparallel a-helix proteins. Many of these are regular, uniform structures, but in a few cases (uteroglobin, for example) one of the helices is tilted away from the bundle. Tobacco mosaic virus protein has small, highly... 

The DNA isolated from different cells and viruses characteristically consists of two polynucleotide strands wound together to form a long, slender, helical molecule, the DNA double helix. The strands run in opposite directions that is, they are antiparallel and are held together in the double helical structure through interchain hydrogen bonds (Eigure 11.19). These H bonds pair the bases of nucleotides in one chain to complementary bases in the other, a phenomenon called base pairing. 

A helical virus partially disrupted to show the helical coil of viral nucleic acid embedded in the capsomeres... 

Some virus particles have their protein subunits symmetrically packed in a helical array, forming hollow cylinders. The tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is the classic example. X-ray diffraction data and electron micrographs have revealed that 16 subunits per turn of the helix project from a central axial hole that runs the length of the particle. The nucleic acid does not lie in this hole, but is embedded into ridges on the inside of each subunit and describes its own helix from one end of the particle to the other. 

Helical symmetry was thought at one time to exist only in plant viruses. It is now known, however, to occur in a number of animal virus particles. The influenza and mumps viruses, for example, which were first seen in early electron micrographs as roughly spherical particles, have now been observed as enveloped particles within the envelope, the capsids themselves are helically symmetrical and appear similar to the rods of TMV, except that they are more flexible and are wound like coils of rope in the centre of the particle. 

Paramyxoviruses Mumps virus Enveloped particles variable in size, 110-170nm in diameter, with helical capsids Infection in children produces characteristic swelling of parotid and submaxillary salivary glands. The disease can have neurological complications, e.g. meningitis, especially in adults... 

Measles virus Enveloped particles variable in size, 120-250nm in diameter, helical capsids Very common childhood fever, immunity is life-long and second attacks are very rare... 

Filoviruses Ebola virus Long filamentous rods composed of a lipid envelope surrounding a helical nucleocapsid lOOOnm long, 80nm in diameter The virus is widespread amongst populations of monkeys. It can be spread to humans by contact with body fluids from the primates. The resulting haemorragic fever has a 90% case fatality rate... 

Putting aside such considerations, the reader is encouraged to examine the sections of Klug s Nobel Lecture 1W) dealing with the structure and the growth of Tobacco Mosaic Virus to see how helical structures and concepts of inclusion phenomena can relate to molecular biology. 

Figure 5.4 Structure and manner of assembly of a simple virus, tobacco mosaic virus, (a) Electron micrograph at high resolution of a portion of the virus particle, (b) Assembly of the tobacco mosaic virion. The RNA assumes a helical configuration surrounded by the protein capsomeres. The center of the particle is hollow.

Virus symmetry The nucleocapsids of viruses are constructed in highly symmetrical ways. Symmetry refers to the way in which the protein morphological units are arranged in the virus shell. When a symmetrical structure is rotated around an axis, the same form is seen again after a certain number of degrees of rotation. Two kinds of symmetry are recognized in viruses which correspond to the two primary shapes, rod and spherical. Rod-shaped viruses have helical symmetry and spherical viruses have icosahedral symmetry. 

A typical virus with helical symmetry is the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). This is an RNA virus in which the 2130 identical protein subunits (each 158 amino acids in length) are arranged in a helix. In TMV, the helix has 16 1/2 subunits per turn and the overall dimensions of the virus particle are 18 X 300 nm. The lengths of helical viruses are determined by the length of the nucleic acid, but the width of the helical virus particle is determined by the size and packing of the protein subunits. 

Complex viruses Some virions are even more complex, being composed of several separate parts, with separate shapes and symmetries. The most complicated viruses in terms of structure are some of the bacterial viruses, which possess not only icosahedral heads but helical tails. In some bacterial viruses, such as the T4 virus of Escherichia coli, the tail itself is a complex structure. For instance, T4 has almost 20 separate proteins in the tail, and the T4 head has several more proteins. In such complex viruses, assembly is also complex. For instance, in T4 the complete tail is formed as a subassembly, and then the tail is added to the DNA-containing head. Finally, tail fibers formed from another protein are added to make the mature, infectious virus particle. 

The discovery of the base-paired, double-helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) provides the theoretic framework for determining how the information coded into DNA sequences is replicated and how these sequences direct the synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and proteins. Already clinical medicine has taken advantage of many of these discoveries, and the future promises much more. For example, the biochemistry of the nucleic acids is central to an understanding of virus-induced diseases, the immune re-sponse, the mechanism of action of drugs and antibiotics, and the spectrum of inherited diseases. 

Completely different mechanisms are involved in the self-assembly of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). This virus consists of single-strand RNA, which is surrounded by 2,130 identical protein units, each of which consists of 158 amino acid residues. A virus particle, which requires the tobacco plant as a host, has a rodlike structure with helical symmetry ( Stanley needles ). It is 300 nm long, with a diameter of 18nm. The protein and RNA fractions can be separated, and the viral... 

C. T. Wild, D. C. Shugars, and T. K. Greenwell, Peptides corresponding to a predictive a-helical domain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp41 are potent inhibitors of virus infection, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 91 (1994) 9770-9774. 

Tobacco mosaic virus protein has a small, highly twisted antiparallel j8 sheet at the base of the helix bundle, with two more helices underneath the sheet (see Fig. 72). Cytochrome bs looks remarkably similar (see Fig. 105), but the helices are much shorter. That structure could have been classified as an up-and-down helix bundle, but we have placed it in the small metal-rich proteins because its helix bundle is very small and distorted and the heme interactions appear more important than the direct helix contacts. 

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