title: Insights into the evolution of a complex virus from the crystal structure of vaccinia virus D13.
abstract: The morphogenesis of poxviruses such as vaccinia virus (VACV) sees the virion shape mature from spherical to brick-shaped. Trimeric capsomers of the VACV D13 protein form a transitory, stabilizing lattice on the surface of the initial spherical immature virus particle. The crystal structure of D13 reveals that this major scaffolding protein comprises a double β barrel "jelly-roll" subunit arranged as pseudo-hexagonal trimers. These structural features are characteristic of the major capsid proteins of a lineage of large icosahedral double-stranded DNA viruses including human adenovirus and the bacteriophages PRD1 and PM2. Structure-based phylogenetic analysis confirms that VACV belongs to this lineage, suggesting that (analogously to higher organism embryogenesis) early poxvirus morphogenesis reflects their evolution from a lineage of viruses sharing a common icosahedral ancestor.
authors: The Division of Structural Biology and the Oxford Protein Production Facility, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.
authors: Mohammad W
authors: MW
authors: Bahar
authors: Stephen C
authors: SC
authors: Graham
authors: David I
authors: DI
authors: Stuart
authors: Jonathan M
authors: JM
authors: Grimes
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D025622:Bacteriophage PRD1 / Q000737:chemistry; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019240:Corticoviridae / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection; D014615:Vaccinia / Q000821:virology; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins