Viral genomes are packaged into "procapsids" by powerful molecular motors. We report the crystal structure of the DNA packaging motor protein, gene product 17 (gp17), in bacteriophage T4. The structure consists of an N-terminal ATPase domain, which provides energy for compacting DNA, and a C-terminal nuclease domain, which terminates packaging. We show that another function of the C-terminal domain is to translocate the genome into the procapsid. The two domains are in close contact in the crystal structure, representing a "tensed state." A cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of the T4 procapsid complexed with gp17 shows that the packaging motor is a pentamer and that the domains within each monomer are spatially separated, representing a "relaxed state." These structures suggest a mechanism, supported by mutational and other data, in which electrostatic forces drive the DNA packaging by alternating between tensed and relaxed states. Similar mechanisms may occur in other molecular motors.

Giant viruses such as Mimivirus isolated from amoeba found in

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has infected millions of people in Africa, Europe, and Asia1,2 since its re-emergence in Kenya in 2004. The severity of disease and spread of this epidemic virus present a serious public health threat in the absence of vaccines or anti-viral therapies. Here, we describe a novel vaccine that protects against emerging CHIKV infection of non-human primates (NHP). We show that selective expression of viral structural proteins gives rise to virus-like particles (VLPs) in vitro that resemble replication-competent alphaviruses. Immunization with these VLPs elicited neutralizing antibodies against envelope proteins from different CHIKV strains. Monkeys immunized with VLPs produced high titer neutralizing antibodies that protected against viremia after high dose challenge. We transferred these antibodies into immunodeficient mice, where they protected against subsequent lethal CHIKV challenge, establishing a humoral mechanism of protection. Immunization with alphavirus VLP vaccines represents a strategy to contain the spread of CHIKV and related pathogenic viruses in humans.

Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION The ubiquitin-proteasome system comprises hundreds of distinct pathways of degradation, which converge at the step of ubiquitin recognition by the proteasome. Five proteasomal ubiquitin receptors have been identified, two that are intrinsic to the proteasome (Rpn10 and Rpn13) and three reversibly associated proteasomal ubiquitin receptors (Rad23, Dsk2, and Ddi1). RATIONALE We found that the five known proteasomal ubiquitin receptors of yeast are collectively nonessential for ubiquitin recognition by the proteasome. We therefore screened for additional ubiquitin receptors in the proteasome and identified subunit Rpn1 as a candidate. We used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterize the structure of the binding site within Rpn1, which we term the T1 site. Mutational analysis of this site showed its functional importance within the context of intact proteasomes. T1 binds both ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like (UBL) proteins, in particular the substrate-delivering shuttle factor Rad23. A second site within the Rpn1 toroid, T2, recognizes the UBL domain of deubiquitinating enzyme Ubp6, as determined by hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry analysis and validated by amino acid substitution and functional assays. The Rpn1 toroid thus serves a critical scaffolding role within the proteasome, helping to assemble multiple proteasome cofactors as well as substrates. RESULTS Our results indicate that proteasome subunit Rpn1 can recognize both ubiquitin and UBL domains of substrate shuttling factors that themselves bind ubiquitin and function as reversibly-associated proteasomal ubiquitin receptors. Recognition is mediated by the T1 site within the Rpn1 toroid, which supports proteasome function in vivo. We found that the capacity of T1 to recognize both ubiquitin and UBL proteins was shared with Rpn10 and Rpn13. The surprising multiplicity of ubiquitin-recognition domains within the proteasome may promote enhanced, multipoint binding of ubiquitin chains. The structures of the T1 site in its free state and complexed with monoubiquitin or K48-linked diubiquitin were solved, revealing that three neighboring outer helices from the T1 toroid engage two ubiquitins. This binding mode leads to a preference for certain ubiquitin chain types, especially K6- and K48-linked chains, in a distinct configuration that can position substrates close to the entry port of the proteasome. The fate of proteasome-docked ubiquitin conjugates is determined by a competition between deubiquitination and substrate degradation. We find that proximal to the T1 site within the Rpn1 toroid is a second UBL-binding site, T2, that does not assist in ubiquitin chain recognition, but rather in chain disassembly, by binding to the UBL domain of deubiquitinating enzyme Ubp6. Importantly, the UBL interactors at T1 and T2 are distinct, assigning substrate localization to T1 and substrate deubiquitination to T2. CONCLUSION A ligand-binding hotspot was identified in the Rpn1 toroid, consisting of two adj...