Cryo-EM reveals a previously unrecognized structural protein of a dsRNA virus implicated in its extracellular transmission.

Mosquito viruses cause unpredictable outbreaks of disease. Recently, several unassigned viruses isolated from mosquitoes, including the Omono River virus (OmRV), were identified as totivirus-like viruses, with features similar to those of the Totiviridae family. Most reported members of this family...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Qianqian Shao, Xudong Jia, Yuanzhu Gao, Zhe Liu, Huan Zhang, Qiqi Tan, Xin Zhang, Huiqiong Zhou, Yinyin Li, De Wu, Qinfen Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-03-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009396&type=printable
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Summary:Mosquito viruses cause unpredictable outbreaks of disease. Recently, several unassigned viruses isolated from mosquitoes, including the Omono River virus (OmRV), were identified as totivirus-like viruses, with features similar to those of the Totiviridae family. Most reported members of this family infect fungi or protozoans and lack an extracellular life cycle stage. Here, we identified a new strain of OmRV and determined high-resolution structures for this virus using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. The structures feature an unexpected protrusion at the five-fold vertex of the capsid. Disassociation of the protrusion could result in several conformational changes in the major capsid. All these structures, together with some biological results, suggest the protrusions' associations with the extracellular transmission of OmRV.
ISSN:1553-7366
1553-7374