Structure
Tobacco mosaic virus coat protein | |
---|---|
A monomeric unit of the tobacco mosaic virus coat protein. | |
Identifiers | |
Symbol | CP |
Entrez | 1494073 |
UniProt | P03579 |
Other data |
Tobacco mosaic virus has a rod-like appearance. Its capsid is made from 2130 molecules of coat protein (see image to the left) and one molecule of genomic single strand RNA 6400 bases long. The coat protein self-assembles into the rod like helical structure (16.3 proteins per helix turn) around the RNA which forms a hairpin loop structure (see the electron micrograph above). The protein monomer consists of 158 amino acids which are assembled into four main alpha-helices, which are joined by a prominent loop proximal to the axis of the virion. Virions are ~300 nm in length and ~18 nm in diameter. Negatively stained electron microphotographs show a distinct inner channel of ~4 nm. The RNA is located at a radius of ~6 nm and is protected from the action of cellular enzymes by the coat protein. There are three RNA nucleotides per protein monomer. X-ray fiber diffraction structure of the intact virus was studied based on an electron density map at 3.6 Å resolution.
Read more about this topic: Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“When a house is tottering to its fall,
The strain lies heaviest on the weakest part,
One tiny crack throughout the structure spreads,
And its own weight soon brings it toppling down.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government.”
—James Madison (17511836)