Structure of human cytomegalovirus virion reveals host tRNA binding to capsid-associated tegument protein pp150

Yun-Tao Liu, David Strugatsky, Wei Liu and Z. Hong Zhou ()
Additional contact information
Yun-Tao Liu: California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles
David Strugatsky: California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles
Wei Liu: California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles
Z. Hong Zhou: California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Under the Baltimore nucleic acid-based virus classification scheme, the herpesvirus human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a Class I virus, meaning that it contains a double-stranded DNA genome—and no RNA. Here, we report sub-particle cryoEM reconstructions of HCMV virions at 2.9 Å resolution revealing structures resembling non-coding transfer RNAs (tRNAs) associated with the virion’s capsid-bound tegument protein, pp150. Through deep sequencing, we show that these RNA sequences match human tRNAs, and we built atomic models using the most abundant tRNA species. Based on our models, tRNA recruitment is mediated by the electrostatic interactions between tRNA phosphate groups and the helix-loop-helix motif of HCMV pp150. The specificity of these interactions may explain the absence of such tRNA densities in murine cytomegalovirus and other human herpesviruses.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25791-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25791-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25791-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().