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Updated: Feb 4, 2026

Synthesis of Zeolites Using the ADOR Assembly-Disassembly-Organization-Reassembly Route
Published on: April 3, 2016
Assembly and disassembly intermediates of maize streak geminivirus
Antonette Bennett1, David Rodriguez1, Samantha Lister2
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, Center for Structural Biology, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0245, United States.
Abstract:
Maize streak virus (MSV) belongs to the Geminiviridae. Four forms of MSV coat protein (CP) assemblages were isolated from infected plants: geminate capsids, T = 1 icosahedral capsids, pentamers and decamers of CPs. Sequential exposure of geminate capsids to increasing pH, from 4.8 to 7.2 was used to monitor capsid disassembly. The capsids remain intact at pH4.8, disassemble to decamers and pentamers by pH6.4 and aggregate by pH7.2. Similarly, high salt and divalent cations cause disassembly. The disassembly process was reversed in low pH and low salt, but resulted in empty (no DNA) single and geminate capsid assemblies. This is likely due to disruption of CP-DNA interactions under acidic conditions and suggests a mechanism of capsid assembly in which the genome is packaged into preformed empty capsids. The pH assay developed in this study provides a method for characterizing the conditions that are the determinants of geminivirus assembly and disassembly.
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