title: Seeing the portal in herpes simplex virus type 1 B capsids.
abstract: Resolving the nonicosahedral components in large icosahedral viruses remains a technical challenge in structural virology. We have used the emerging technique of Zernike phase-contrast electron cryomicroscopy to enhance the image contrast of ice-embedded herpes simplex virus type 1 capsids. Image reconstruction enabled us to retrieve the structure of the unique portal vertex in the context of the icosahedral capsid and, for the first time, show the subunit organization of a portal in a virus infecting eukaryotes. Our map unequivocally resolves the 12-subunit portal situated beneath one of the pentameric vertices, thus removing uncertainty over the location and stoichiometry of the herpesvirus portal.
authors.affiliation: Structural Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Rochat
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagayama
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rixon
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chiu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002213:Capsid / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast