title: The near-atomic cryoEM structure of a flexible filamentous plant virus shows homology of its coat protein with nucleoproteins of animal viruses.
abstract: Flexible filamentous viruses include economically important plant pathogens. Their viral particles contain several hundred copies of a helically arrayed coat protein (CP) protecting a (+)ssRNA. We describe here a structure at 3.9 Å resolution, from electron cryomicroscopy, of Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a representative of the genus Potexvirus (family Alphaflexiviridae). Our results allow modeling of the CP and its interactions with viral RNA. The overall fold of PepMV CP resembles that of nucleoproteins (NPs) from the genus Phlebovirus (family Bunyaviridae), a group of enveloped (-)ssRNA viruses. The main difference between potexvirus CP and phlebovirus NP is in their C-terminal extensions, which appear to determine the characteristics of the distinct multimeric assemblies - a flexuous, helical rod or a loose ribonucleoprotein. The homology suggests gene transfer between eukaryotic (+) and (-)ssRNA viruses.
authors.affiliation: Structural Biology Unit, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, Derio, Spain.
authors.forename: Xabier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Agirrezabala
authors.affiliation: Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, Murcia, Spain.|Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Méndez-López
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Gorka
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lasso
authors.affiliation: Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, Murcia, Spain.|Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: M Amelia
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Pina
authors.affiliation: Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, Murcia, Spain.|Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aranda
authors.affiliation: Structural Biology Unit, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, Derio, Spain.
authors.forename: Mikel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valle
mesh_terms: D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D017863:Potexvirus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017510:Protein Folding; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: biophysics; coat protein; cryoEM; flexible plant virus; ssRNA viruses; structural biology; viruses