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Journal of Virology, November 2002, p. 11128-11132, Vol. 76, No. 21
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.21.11128-11132.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

In Vitro-Assembled Alphavirus Core-Like Particles Maintain a Structure Similar to That of Nucleocapsid Cores in Mature Virus

Suchetana Mukhopadhyay,* Paul R. Chipman, Eunmee M. Hong, Richard J. Kuhn, and Michael G. Rossmann

Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1392

Received 23 May 2002/ Accepted 29 July 2002

In vitro-assembled core-like particles produced from alphavirus capsid protein and nucleic acid were studied by cryoelectron microscopy. These particles were found to have a diameter of 420 Å with 240 copies of the capsid protein arranged in a T=4 icosahedral surface lattice, similar to the nucleocapsid core in mature virions. However, when the particles were subjected to gentle purification procedures, they were damaged, preventing generation of reliable structural information. Similarly, purified nucleocapsid cores isolated from virus-infected cells or from mature virus particles were also of poor quality. This suggested that in the absence of membrane and glycoproteins, nucleocapsid core particles are fragile, lacking accurate icosahedral symmetry.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1392. Phone: (765) 494-4925. Fax: (765) 496-1189. E-mail: mukhopas{at}bilbo.bio.purdue.edu.

Journal of Virology, November 2002, p. 11128-11132, Vol. 76, No. 21
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.21.11128-11132.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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