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Characterization of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Virions and Repolymerized Coat Protein Aggregates in Solution by Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering

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Abstract

The structure of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) virions and stacked disk aggregates of TMV coat protein (CP) in solution was analyzed by synchrotron-based small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and negative contrast transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TMV CP aggregates had a unique stability but did not have helical symmetry. According to the TEM data, they were stacked disks associated into transversely striated rod-shaped structures 300 to 800 Å long. According to modeling based on the crystallographic model of the 4-layer TMV CP aggregate (PDB: 1EI7), the stacked disks represented hollow cylinders. The calculated SAXS pattern for the disks was compared to the experimental one over the entire measured range. The best correlation with the SAXS data was found for the model with the repeating central pair of discs; the SAXS curves for the stacked disks were virtually identical irrespectively of the protein isolation method. The positions of maxima on the scatter curves could be used as characteristic features of the studied samples; some of the peaks were assigned to the existing elements of the quaternary structure (periodicity of aggregate structure, virion helix pitch). Low-resolution structural data for the repolymerized TMV CP aggregates in solution under conditions similar to natural were produced for the first time. Analysis of such nano-size objects is essential for their application in biomedicine and biotechnology.

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Abbreviations

CP:

coat protein

SAXS:

small-angle X-ray scattering

TEM:

transmission electron microscopy

TMV:

tobacco mosaic virus

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119992, Moscow, Russia

    A. L. Ksenofontov, A. N. Prusov & N. V. Fedorova

  2. Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography, Federal Scientific Research Centre “Crystallography and Photonics”, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333, Moscow, Russia

    M. V. Petoukhov & E. V. Shtykova

  3. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    M. V. Petoukhov

Authors
  1. A. L. Ksenofontov
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  2. M. V. Petoukhov
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  3. A. N. Prusov
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  4. N. V. Fedorova
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  5. E. V. Shtykova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. L. Ksenofontov.

Additional information

Russian Text © The Author(s), 2020, published in Biokhimiya, 2020, Vol. 85, No. 3, pp. 360–368.

Funding

This work supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 18-04-00525a) and Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (State Budget Project “Crystallography and Photonics”, SAXS experiments).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest in financial or any other sphere.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain description of studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Ksenofontov, A.L., Petoukhov, M.V., Prusov, A.N. et al. Characterization of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Virions and Repolymerized Coat Protein Aggregates in Solution by Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering. Biochemistry Moscow 85, 310–317 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0006297920030062

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0006297920030062

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