Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 17
The Assembly of the Double-Layered
Capsids of Phytoreoviruses
Toshihiro Omura*, Naoyuki Miyazaki
†
, Hisashi Naitow
‡
,
R. Holland Cheng
§
, Tomitake Tsukihara
†
and
Atsushi Nakagawa
†
Introduction
It seems reasonable to assume that a virus — a supramolecule with a
variety of biological functions — would have a structure that is advanta-
geous with respect to the performance of these functions. Furthermore,
we would expect that the organization of the viral proteins would be
genetically economical for the packaging of the viral genome and related
proteins within the restricted cavity created by the capsid proteins.
Viruses in the family
Reoviridae
1
have an inner core with a large
interior cavity that contains the double-stranded RNA genome, which
consists of 10 to 12 segments, and a transcriptional complex that
includes proteins with RNA polymerase, helicase, guanylyltransferase
*Corresponding author. National Agricultural Research Center, 3-1-1 Kannondai, Tsukuba,
Ibaraki 305-8666, Japan.
†
Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, 3-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
‡
Division of Bio-Crystallography Technology, RIKEN Harima Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto Mikazuki,
Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan.
§
Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, University of
California, Davis Briggs Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
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