Conformational landscape of a virus by single-particle X-ray scattering.

Hosseinizadeh, Ahmad; Mashayekhi, Ghoncheh; Copperman, Jeremy; Schwander, Peter; Dashti, Ali; Sepehr, Reyhaneh; Fung, Russell; Schmidt, Marius et al. · Nat Methods · 2017

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Using a manifold-based analysis of experimental diffraction snapshots from an X-ray free electron laser, we determine the three-dimensional structure and conformational landscape of the PR772 virus to a detector-limited resolution of 9 nm. Our results indicate that a single conformational coordinate controls reorganization of the genome, growth of a tubular structure from a portal vertex and release of the genome. These results demonstrate that single-particle X-ray scattering has the potential to shed light on key biological processes.

Medical subject headings