Electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) yields images of macromolecular assemblies and their components, from which 3D structures can be determined, by using an image processing method commonly known as ''single-particle reconstruction.'' During the past two decades, this technique has become an important tool for 3D structure determination, but it generally has not been possible to determine atomic models. In principle, individual molecular images contain high-resolution information contaminated by a much higher level of noise. In practice, it has been unclear whether current averaging methods are adequate to extract this information from the background. We present here a reconstruction, obtained by using recently developed image processing methods, of the rotavirus inner capsid particle (''double-layer particle'' or DLP) at a resolution suitable for interpretation by an atomic model. The result establishes single-particle reconstruction as a highresolution technique. We show by direct comparison that the cryo-EM reconstruction of viral protein 6 (VP6) of the rotavirus DLP is similar in clarity to a 3.8-Å resolution map obtained from x-ray crystallography. At this resolution, most of the amino acid side chains produce recognizable density. The icosahedral symmetry of the particle was an important factor in achieving this resolution in the cryo-EM analysis, but as the size of recordable datasets increases, single-particle reconstruction also is likely to yield structures at comparable resolution from samples of much lower symmetry. This potential has broad implications for structural cell biology.FREALIGN ͉ virus structure ͉ rotavirus ͉ protein structure ͉ image processing C ryogenic preservation of macromolecular assemblies was introduced into electron microscopy 30 years ago (1, 2). Different applications of electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) include 2D crystallography, helical reconstruction (helices are effectively rolled-up 2D lattices), single-particle reconstruction, and tomography (reviewed recently in ref.3). In several cases, data collected from 2D crystals and helical specimens have led to structures at 4-Å resolution or better, enabling their interpretation by atomic models (for example, see refs. 4-6). The periodicity present in images of 2D crystals and helical specimens generates distinct diffraction patterns with signalcontaining spots and lines that can be separated from the background. Removal of the background (noise) is straightforward and amounts to averaging over all unit cells in the crystal. The distinction between signal and background is not possible in images of single particles and tomographic reconstructions. Instead, in the case of single-particle reconstructions, averaging must be performed over many individual particle images. The resolution obtained by this averaging procedure depends critically on the accuracy with which each particle can be brought into register with the others. This computational step is not an issue for well ordered 2D crystals and helical specimens used in high-res...

Non-enveloped viruses of different types have evolved distinct mechanisms for penetrating a cellular membrane during infection. Rotavirus penetration appears to occur by a process resembling enveloped-virus fusion: membrane distortion linked to conformational changes in a viral protein. Evidence for such a mechanism comes from crystallographic analyses of fragments of VP4, the rotavirus-penetration protein, and infectivity analyses of structure-based VP4 mutants. We describe here the structure of an infectious rotavirus particle determined by electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) and single-particle analysis at about 4.3 Å resolution. The cryoEM image reconstruction permits a nearly complete trace of the VP4 polypeptide chain, including the positions of most side chains. It shows how the two subfragments of VP4 (VP8* and VP5*) retain their association after proteolytic cleavage, reveals multiple structural roles for the b-barrel domain of VP5*, and specifies interactions of VP4 with other capsid proteins. The virion model allows us to integrate structural and functional information into a coherent mechanism for rotavirus entry.

Affinity maturation refines a naive B-cell response by selecting mutations in antibody variable domains that enhance antigen binding. We describe a B-cell lineage expressing broadly neutralizing influenza virus antibodies derived from a subject immunized with the 2007 trivalent vaccine. The lineage comprises three mature antibodies, the unmutated common ancestor, and a common intermediate. Their heavy-chain complementarity determining region inserts into the conserved receptor-binding pocket of influenza HA. We show by analysis of structures, binding kinetics and long time-scale molecular dynamics simulations that antibody evolution in this lineage has rigidified the initially flexible heavy-chain complementarity determining region by two nearly independent pathways and that this preconfiguration accounts for most of the affinity gain. The results advance our understanding of strategies for developing more broadly effective influenza vaccines.immunity | antigen recognition | X-ray crystallography E xposure to a novel antigen, whether by infection or vaccination, induces an initial naive B-cell response. Cells bearing B-cell receptors (BCRs) that bind the antigen in question, even with relatively low affinity, proliferate selectively. In the continued presence of antigen, additional proliferation, accompanied by somatic hypermutation of the rearranged Ig heavy-and light-chain genes, leads to selection of cells with BCRs (and secreted antibodies) that bind more tightly to antigen than their precursors-a process known as affinity maturation (1-3). Recent methodological advances make it possible to study the history of this process in a given subject by isolating a number of individual B cells at a suitable time point after vaccination or infection and cloning their recombined heavy-and light-chain variable regions (4-6). If a subset of the variable regions thus identified derives from the same progenitor, one can infer the clonal lineage that gave rise to the observed genes, including the unmutated common ancestor (UCA) and the other unobserved intermediates at the interior nodes of the clonal tree with tips that are the genes of the mature antibodies (Fig. 1A). Structural and biochemical changes that occur during affinity maturation can be analyzed, and the mechanism of affinity enhancement elucidated.The influenza B-cell clonal lineage shown in Fig. 1A derives from plasmablasts sorted from a sample taken from an adult subject 1 wk after administration of the 2007 trivalent inactivated influenza virus vaccine. It includes just three mature B-cell clones. We have shown that one member of this lineage (CH65) bears a heavy-chain complementary determining region 3 (CDR H3) loop that inserts into the HA receptor-binding pocket, mimics the influenza virus receptor sialic acid, and has unusual breadth of neutralizing capacity (31 of 36 H1 strains tested) (7). We have now extended the structural and functional analysis to the entire lineage. By determining the structure and binding properties of the UCA and intermediate 2...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the main cause of infant bronchiolitis, remains a major unmet vaccine need despite more than 40 years of vaccine research. Vaccine candidates based on a chief RSV neutralization antigen, the fusion (F) glycoprotein, have foundered due to problems with stability, purity, reproducibility, and potency. Crystal structures of related parainfluenza F glycoproteins have revealed a large conformational change between the prefusion and postfusion states, suggesting that postfusion F antigens might not efficiently elicit neutralizing antibodies. We have generated a homogeneous, stable, and reproducible postfusion RSV F immunogen that elicits high titers of neutralizing antibodies in immunized animals. The 3.2-Å X-ray crystal structure of this substantially complete RSV F reveals important differences from homology-based structural models. Specifically, the RSV F crystal structure demonstrates the exposure of key neutralizing antibody binding sites on the surface of the postfusion RSV F trimer. This unanticipated structural feature explains the engineered RSV F antigen's efficiency as an immunogen. This work illustrates how structural-based antigen design can guide the rational optimization of candidate vaccine antigens.subunit | epitope

Summary The crystal structure of rotavirus VP7 bound with the Fab from a neutralizing monoclonal shows the mechanism by which members of a large class of neutralizing antibodies inhibit rotavirus infection, indicates how withdrawal of Ca2+ ions becomes an uncoating trigger during cell entry, and provides the “first draft” of a design for subunit immunogens. Rotavirus outer-layer protein VP7 is a principal target of protective antibodies. Removal of free Ca2+ dissociates the VP7 trimer, releases it from the virion, and initiates penetration-inducing conformational changes in the other outer-layer protein, VP4. We report the crystal structure of VP7 bound with the Fab fragment of a neutralizing monoclonal antibody. The Fab binds across the outer surface of the intersubunit contact, which is stabilized by two Ca2+ sites. Mutations that escape neutralization by other antibodies suggest that the same region bears the epitopes of most neutralizing antibodies. The monovalent Fab is sufficient to neutralize infectivity. We propose that neutralizing antibodies against VP7 act by stabilizing the trimer, thereby inhibiting the uncoating trigger for VP4 rearrangement. A disulfide-linked trimer is a potential subunit immunogen.

Binding of herpes simplex virus (HSV) glycoprotein D (gD) to a cell surface receptor is required to trigger membrane fusion during entry into host cells. Nectin-1 is a cell adhesion molecule and the main HSV receptor in neurons and epithelial cells. We report the structure of gD bound to nectin-1 determined by x-ray crystallography to 4.0 Å resolution. The structure reveals that the nectin-1 binding site on gD differs from the binding site of the HVEM receptor. A surface on the first Ig-domain of nectin-1, which mediates homophilic interactions of Ig-like cell adhesion molecules, buries an area composed by residues from both the gD N- and C-terminal extensions. Phenylalanine 129, at the tip of the loop connecting β-strands F and G of nectin-1, protrudes into a groove on gD, which is otherwise occupied by C-terminal residues in the unliganded gD and by N-terminal residues in the gD/HVEM complex. Notably, mutation of Phe129 to alanine prevents nectin-1 binding to gD and HSV entry. Together these data are consistent with previous studies showing that gD disrupts the normal nectin-1 homophilic interactions. Furthermore, the structure of the complex supports a model in which gD-receptor binding triggers HSV entry through receptor-mediated displacement of the gD C-terminal region.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant patients and the leading viral cause of birth defects after congenital infection. The glycoprotein complexes gH/gL/gO and gH/gL/UL128/UL130/UL131A (Pentamer) are key targets of the human humoral response against HCMV and are required for HCMV entry into fibroblasts and endothelial/epithelial cells, respectively. We expressed and characterized soluble forms of gH/gL, gH/gL/gO, and Pentamer. Mass spectrometry and mutagenesis analysis revealed that gL-Cys144 forms disulfide bonds with gO-Cys351 in gH/gL/gO and with UL128-Cys162 in the Pentamer. Notably, Pentamer harboring the UL128-Cys162Ser/gL-Cys144Ser mutations had impaired syncytia formation and reduced interference of HCMV entry into epithelial cells. Electron microscopy analysis showed that HCMV gH/gL resembles HSV gH/gL and that gO and UL128/UL130/UL131A bind to the same site at the gH/gL N terminus. These data are consistent with gH/gL/gO and Pentamer forming mutually exclusive cell entry complexes and reveal the overall location of gH/gL-, gH/gL/ gO-, and Pentamer-specific neutralizing antibody binding sites. Our results provide, to our knowledge, the first structural view of gH/gL/ gO and Pentamer supporting the development of vaccines and antibody therapeutics against HCMV.human cytomegalovirus | HCMV | Pentamer complex | gH/gL/gO | virus entry

The rotavirus inner capsid particle, known as the "double-layered particle" (DLP), is the "payload" delivered into a cell in the process of viral infection. Its inner and outer protein layers, composed of VP2 and VP6, respectively, package the eleven segments of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) of the viral genome, as well as about the same number of polymerase molecules (VP1) and capping-enzyme molecules (VP3). We have determined the crystal structure of the bovine rotavirus DLP. There is one full particle (outer diameter ~700 Å) in the asymmetric unit of the P2 1 2 1 2 1 unit cell, of dimensions a= 740 Å, b= 1198 Å, c= 1345 Å. A three-dimensional reconstruction from electron cryomicroscopy was used as a molecular-replacement model for initial phase determination to about 18.5 Å resolution and the sixty-fold redundancy of the icosahedral particle symmetry allowed phases to be extended stepwise to the limiting resolution of the data (3.8 Å). The structure of a VP6 trimer (determined previously by others) fits the outerlayer density with very little adjustment. The T=13 triangulation number of that layer implies that there are four and one-third VP6 trimers per icosahedral asymmetric unit. The inner layer has 120 copies of VP2 and thus two per icosahedral asymmetric unit, designated VP2A and VP2B. Residues 101-880 fold into a relatively thin, principal domain, comma-like in outline, shaped such that only rather modest distortions (concentrated at two "subdomain" boundaries) allow VP2A and B to form a uniform layer with essentially no gaps at the subunit boundaries, except for a modest pore along the fivefold axis. The VP2 principal domain resembles those of the corresponding shells and homologous proteins in other dsRNA viruses: λ1 in orthoreoreoviruses, VP3 in orbiviruses. Residues 1-80 of VP2A and VP2B fold together with four other such pairs into a "fivefold hub" that projects into the DLP interior along the fivefold axis; residues 81-100 link the ten polypeptide chains emerging from a fivefold hub to the N-termini of their corresponding principal domains, clustered into a decameric assembly unit. The fivefold hub appears to have several distinct functions. One is to recruit a copy of VP1 (or of a VP1-VP3 complex), potentially along with a segment of (+)-strand RNA, as a decamer of VP2 assembles. A second is to serve as Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript a shaft around which can coil a segment of dsRNA. A third is to guide nascent mRNA, synthesized in the DLP int...