SNAP output for PDB entry 7umk [SNAP web server]

PDB-id

7umk; SNAP-derived features in text and JSON formats; DNAproDB

Class

virus

Method

cryo-EM (4.1 Å)

Summary

Structure of vesicular stomatitis virus (helical reconstruction, 4.1 Å resolution)

Reference

Jenni S, Horwitz JA, Bloyet LM, Whelan SPJ, Harrison SC (2022): "Visualizing molecular interactions that determine assembly of a bullet-shaped vesicular stomatitis virus particle." Nat Commun, 13, 4802. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32223-1.

Abstract

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a negative-strand RNA virus with a non-segmented genome, closely related to rabies virus. Both have characteristic bullet-like shapes. We report the structure of intact, infectious VSV particles determined by cryogenic electron microscopy. By compensating for polymorphism among viral particles with computational classification, we obtained a reconstruction of the shaft ("trunk") at 3.5 Å resolution, with lower resolution for the rounded tip. The ribonucleoprotein (RNP), genomic RNA complexed with nucleoprotein (N), curls into a dome-like structure with about eight gradually expanding turns before transitioning into the regular helical trunk. Two layers of matrix (M) protein link the RNP with the membrane. Radial inter-layer subunit contacts are fixed within single RNA-N-M1-M2 modules, but flexible lateral and axial interactions allow assembly of polymorphic virions. Together with published structures of recombinant N in various states, our results suggest a mechanism for membrane-coupled self-assembly of VSV and its relatives.