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Science 27 April 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5517, pp. 744 - 748
DOI: 10.1126/science.1058069
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Reports

Virus Maturation Involving Large Subunit Rotations and Local Refolding

J. F. Conway,12 W. R. Wikoff,3 N. Cheng,1 R. L. Duda,4 R. W. Hendrix,4 J. E. Johnson,3 A. C. Steven1*

Large-scale conformational changes transform viral precursors into infectious virions. The structure of bacteriophage HK97 capsid, Head-II, was recently solved by crystallography, revealing a catenated cross-linked topology. We have visualized its precursor, Prohead-II, by cryoelectron microscopy and modeled the conformational change by appropriately adapting Head-II. Rigid-body rotations (~40 degrees) cause switching to an entirely different set of interactions; in addition, two motifs undergo refolding. These changes stabilize the capsid by increasing the surface area buried at interfaces and bringing the cross-link-forming residues, initially ~40 angstroms apart, close together. The inner surface of Prohead-II is negatively charged, suggesting that the transition is triggered electrostatically by DNA packaging.

1 Laboratory of Structural Biology Research, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
2 Institut de Biologie Structurale-J.-P. Ebel, 41 rue Jules Horowitz, 38027 Grenoble, France.
3 Department of Molecular Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
4 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed at Building 6, Room B2-34, 6 Center Drive MSC 2717, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-2717, USA. E-mail: alasdair_steven{at}nih.gov

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