title: Viral life cycles captured in three-dimensions with electron microscopy tomography.
abstract: Viruses hijack host cell functions and optimize them for viral replication causing a severe threat to human health. However, viruses are also tools to understand cell biology and they may be effective reagents in nano-medicine. Studies from the molecular to cellular levels are aimed at understanding the details of viral life cycles and the underlying virus-host interactions. Recent developments in electron microscopy tomography allow viral and cellular events to be observed in fine structural detail in three-dimension. By combining high-resolution structures of individual proteins and macro-complexes obtained by crystallography and electron cryo-microscopy and image reconstruction with reconstructions performed on sub-tomographic volumes, electron tomography has advanced the structural and mechanistic understanding of virus infections both in vitro and in host cells.
authors: Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.
authors: Chi-yu
authors: CY
authors: Fu
authors: Johnson E
authors: JE
authors: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods*; D018406:Virus Physiological Phenomena; D014780:Viruses / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*