Icosahedral

symmetry
Week 4, Session 4
Virology I: How viruses work
Prof. V. Racaniello

Enveloped virions of RNA viruses with (-) ssRNA

genomes with helical capsids

Paramyxoviridae (measles virus, mumps virus)

Rhabdoviridae (rabies virus)

Orthomyxoviridae (inuenza virus)

Filoviridae (Ebola virus)

The nucleocapsid is the nucleic acid-protein assembly that is

packaged within the virion

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How can you make a round capsid from proteins

with irregular shapes?

Clue 1: All round capsids have precise numbers of

proteins; mulTples of 60 are common (60, 180, 240,
960)

Clue 2: Spherical viruses come in many sizes, but

capsid proteins are 20-60 kDa average
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Caspar & Klugs 1962 soluIon

They knew from Watson & Cricks work that round

capsids are icosahedrons - no other Platonic solids
were used

Capsid subunits tended to be arranged as hexamers

and pentamers

The number of capsid subunits followed allowable

values of T numbers: 60, 180, 240, 960; nothing in
between
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Icosahedral symmetry

Icosahedron: solid with 20 faces, each an equilateral

triangle

Allows formaTon of a closed shell with smallest

number (60) of idenTcal subunits

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TriangulaIon number, T
The number of facets per triangular face of an icosahedron
Each facet contains a capsid protein mulTmer
Combining several triangular facets allows assembly of larger face from
same structural unit

Capsids with T>1

have a 6-fold axis of
symmetry
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Simple icosahedral capsids

Made of 60 idenTcal
protein subunits

The protein subunit is

the structural unit

InteracTons of all
molecules with their
neighbors are idenTcal
(head-to-head, tail-to-
tail)
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Adeno-associated virus 2
(parvovirus)
25 nm
T=1
60 copies of a single capsid
protein

How are larger virions

built?
By adding more subunits
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Quasiequivalence

When a capsid contains more than 60 subunits, each

occupies a quasiequivalent posiTon

The noncovalent binding properTes of subunits in

dierent structural environments are similar, but not
idenTcal

Three modes of
subunit packing
(orange, yellow,
purple)

Pentamers &
hexamers

Bonding interacTons
are quasiequivalent:
all engage tail-to-tail
and head-to-head

180 idenTcal protein subunits

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Nodamura virus
29 - 32 nm
T=3
180 copies of a single capsid protein

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Images from Principles of Virology

2009 American Society for Microbiology
Are used with permission
No further reproducTon or distribuTon is permibed
without the prior wriben permission of the
American Society for Microbiology

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