title: X-ray crystallographic structure of the Norwalk virus capsid.
abstract: Norwalk virus, a noncultivatable human calicivirus, is the major cause of epidemic gastroenteritis in humans. The first x-ray structure of a calicivirus capsid, which consists of 180 copies of a single protein, has been determined by phase extension from a low-resolution electron microscopy structure. The capsid protein has a protruding (P) domain connected by a flexible hinge to a shell (S) domain that has a classical eight-stranded beta-sandwich motif. The structure of the P domain is unlike that of any other viral protein with a subdomain exhibiting a fold similar to that of the second domain in the eukaryotic translation elongation factor-Tu. This subdomain, located at the exterior of the capsid, has the largest sequence variation among Norwalk-like human caliciviruses and is likely to contain the determinants of strain specificity and cell binding.
authors.affiliation: Verna and Marrs Mclean Department of Biochemistry, Division of Molecular Virology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. bprasad@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: B V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dokland
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bella
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Rossmann
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Estes
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D019281:Dimerization; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009663:Norwalk virus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; C121877:Norwalk virus capsid; D011994:Recombinant Proteins