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. 2012 Jan 13;335(6065):182.
doi: 10.1126/science.1214120.

Bubblegrams reveal the inner body of bacteriophage φKZ

Weimin Wu  1 , Julie A Thomas, Naiqian Cheng, Lindsay W Black, Alasdair C Steven
Affiliations

Bubblegrams reveal the inner body of bacteriophage φKZ

Weimin Wu et al. Science. .

Abstract

Dense packing of macromolecules in cellular compartments and higher-order assemblies makes it difficult to pick out even quite large components in electron micrographs, despite nominally high resolution. Immunogold labeling and histochemical procedures offer ways to map certain components but are limited in their applicability. Here, we present a differential mapping procedure, based on the physical principle of protein's greater sensitivity to radiation damage compared with that of nucleic acid.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cryo-electron micrographs of purified ϕKZ virions: (A) initial low-dose exposure; (B) subsequent exposure of the same field, with bubbling in radiation-damaged virions. (C) 3D reconstruction of the ϕKZ capsid viewed along the axis of 5-fold symmetry that passes through the portal. The capsid has T=27 icosahedral symmetry (4). The centers of all hexons on one icosahedral facet are marked with red dots. Hexons in the ring of five, on one of which the inner body (in magenta) is anchored, are colored green. The symmetry-related hexons on the other side of the capsid are in pale green. Each of these hexons lie on a facet edge, connecting two vertices. The central axis of the inner body passes through the center of capsid. (D) Central section of the ϕKZ head sampled in the plane in which the inner body axis lies. This view illustrates the tilt of the inner body relative to the portal axis and the offsetting of its point of contact with the capsid from the portal vertex. (E) Multi-tiered structure of the inner body shown in surface rendering (left, magenta) and central grayscale section (right). The structures shown in (C) and (E) were 6-fold rotationally averaged (justified by the angular power spectra analysis in Figure 3s): the structure shown in (D) was not.
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