Cryo-electron microscopy for the study of virus assembly

Area of Science:

• Structural biology
• Virology
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Viruses exhibit diverse shapes and sizes, yet share limited evolutionary lineages, likely due to capsid assembly constraints.
• Viral assembly follows two primary pathways: co-assembly of nucleic acids and capsid proteins, or sequential assembly involving scaffolding and genome packaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent analyses of viral assembly mechanisms using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).
• To explore the application of natural viral assembly processes for encapsulating diverse cargos in virus-based platforms for nanotechnological purposes.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine high-resolution structures of viral assemblies.
• Employing cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to visualize viral assembly intermediates and mechanisms.

Main Results:

• Cryo-EM and cryo-ET have provided unprecedented structural insights into viral assembly.
• Natural viral assembly mechanisms can be harnessed to package heterologous cargos like chemicals, enzymes, and nucleic acids.
• This has led to the development of novel virus-based platforms for biomedical and biotechnological applications.

Conclusions:

• Understanding viral assembly through advanced imaging techniques like cryo-EM and cryo-ET is crucial.
• Viral assembly pathways offer versatile strategies for creating advanced nanotechnological tools.
• The redesign of virus-based platforms leverages natural assembly for diverse cargo encapsulation.