PREMIER CAT - Structural studies of viruses using cryo-electron microscopy (TEM).
EMSL Project ID
48866
Abstract
Rubella virus is a major cause of birth defects due to infectious agents. When contracted during pregnancy, rubella infection leads to severe damage in fetuses. Rubella virus is a pleomorphic virus. Despite its medical importance, very little is known about the structure of rubella virus as compared to its alphavirus relatives. High resolution structural studies of pleomorphic viruses are a challenge as the currently available high resolution techniques for virus studies, such as x-ray crystallography and single particle cryo-electron microscopy, depend on sample homogeneity. Hence, we propose to use cryo-electron tomography to help establish the rubella virus structure. As rubella virus is a Biosafetly level-2 (BSL-2) agent, our initial work will be with recombinantly produced rubella virus nucleocapsids which do not have any biosafety restrictions. Another research interest is the study of bacteriophage structures. Specifically, we are interested in analyzing the assembly of the H-protein tube structure during infection by bacteriophages ?X-174 and STB-1. ?X-174, and its relative STB-1, are icosahedral phages that produces an H-protein tail during its infection process. We are interested in probing these viruses while assembling the tails using cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography.
Project Details
Start Date
2015-04-01
End Date
2015-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members