skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Sigma 1 protein of mammalian reoviruses extends from the surfaces of viral particles

Journal Article · · J. Virol.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5442445

Electron microscopy revealed structures consisting of long fibers topped with knobs extending from the surfaces of virions of mammalian reoviruses. The morphology of these structures was reminiscent of the fiber protein of adenovirus. Fibers were also seen extending from the reovirus top component and intermediate subviral particles but not from cores, suggesting that the fibers consist of either the ..mu..1C or sigma1 outer capsid protein. Amino acid sequence analysis predicts that the reovirus cell attachment protein sigma1 contains an extended fiber domain. When sigma1 protein was released from viral particles with mild heat and subsequently obtained in isolation, it was found to have a morphology identical to that of the fiber structures seen extending from the viral particles. The identification of an extended form of sigma1 has important implications for its function in cell attachment. Other evidence suggest that sigma1 protein may occur in virions in both an extended and an unextended state.

Research Organization:
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
OSTI ID:
5442445
Journal Information:
J. Virol.; (United States), Vol. 62:1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English