Comparative Studies on Visna, Progressive Pneumonia, and Rous Sarcoma Viruses by Electron Microscopy

The Organization of Mature Rous Sarcoma Virus as Studied by Cryoelectron Microscopy

“…These dimensions are quite comparable to those of immature HIV-1 (mean diameter 133 nm, SD 17 nm (Wilk et al, 2001)) and immature and mature MuLV (mean diameter 124 -126 nm, SD 11-14 nm (Yeager et al, 1998)), two other retroviruses that have been studied using cryo-EM. A mean particle diameter of 127 nm for RSV is, in general, slightly larger than previously estimated by electron microscopy (Gaylord, 1955;Epstein, 1957;Oberling et al, 1957;Dourmashkin and Simons, 1961;Gelderblom et al, 1970;Takemoto et al, 1973). In these prior studies, more disruptive preparative methods were used, and sample shrinkage, flattening, and distortion may have been significant.…”