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Journal of Virology, December 2005, p. 14967-14970, Vol. 79, No. 23
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.23.14967-14970.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Common Ancestry of Herpesviruses and Tailed DNA Bacteriophages
Matthew L. Baker,1
Wen Jiang,1
Frazer J. Rixon,2* and
Wah Chiu1
National Center for Macromolecular Imaging, Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030,1
MRC Virology Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland G11 5JR, United Kingdom2
Received 27 August 2005/
Accepted 12 September 2005
Comparative analysis of capsid protein structures in the eukaryote-infecting herpesviruses (Herpesviridae) and the prokaryote-infecting tailed DNA bacteriophages (Caudovirales) revealed a characteristic fold that is restricted to these two virus lineages and is indicative of common ancestry. This fold not only serves as a major architectural element in capsid stability but also enables the conformational flexibility observed during viral assembly and maturation. On the basis of this and other emerging relationships, it seems increasingly likely that the very diverse collection of extant viruses may have arisen from a relatively small number of primordial progenitors.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: MRC Virology Unit, University of Glasgow, Church St., Glasgow, Scotland G11 5JR, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 141 330 4025. Fax: 44 141 337 2236. E-mail:
f.rixon{at}bio.gla.ac.uk.
Journal of Virology, December 2005, p. 14967-14970, Vol. 79, No. 23
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.23.14967-14970.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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