Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 18
Structure and Assembly of
Human Herpesviruses: New Insights
From Cryo-Electron Microscopy and
Tomography
Z. Hong Zhou
*
,†,‡
and Pierrette Lo
§
The
Herpesviridae
family is one of the largest and most genetically and
structurally complex families of viruses. Eight human herpesviruses have
been identified, which cause ailments ranging from cold sores to blindness
to cancers. In this chapter, we review advances in cryo-electron
microscopy and tomography studies of herpesvirus structure and assem-
bly, focusing on comparisons of representative human herpesviruses in the
alpha-, beta- and gammaherpesvirus subfamilies. These herpesviruses
share a multilayer architecture with a pleomorphic glycoprotein-contain-
ing lipid envelope and a proteinaceous tegument compartment that
encloses an icosahedral capsid with a bacteriophage-like portal and a tightly
packed double-stranded DNA genome. Capsid structure is highly con-
served, with the exception of capsid size, which is related to the varying
*Corresponding author.
†
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Medical School at
Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
‡
Present address: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David
Geffen School of Medicine, and the California NanoSystems Institute, University of California
at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. E-mail: Hong.Zhou@ucla.edu
§
Present address: Texas Heart Institute, PO Box 20345, MC3-116, Houston, TX 77225, USA.
E-mail: plo@heart.thi.tmc.edu.
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