The structure determination of a common cold virus, human rhinovirus 14

Design Rules for the Sequestration of Viruses into Polypeptide Complex Coacervates

Encapsulation is a strategy that has been used to facilitate the delivery and increase the stability of proteins and viruses. Here, we investigate the encapsulation of viruses via complex coacervation, which is a liquid-liquid phase separation resulting from the complexation of oppositely charged polymers. In particular, we utilized polypeptide-based coacervates and explored the effects of peptide chemistry, chain length, charge patterning, and hydrophobicity to better understand the effects of the coacervating polypeptides on virus incorporation. Our study utilized two nonenveloped viruses, porcine parvovirus (PPV) and human rhinovirus (HRV). PPV has a higher charge density than HRV, and they both appear to be relatively hydrophobic. These viruses were compared to characterize how the charge, hydrophobicity, and patterning of chemistry on the surface of the virus capsid affects encapsulation. Consistent with the electrostatic nature of complex coacervation, our results suggest that electrostatic effects associated with the net charge of both the virus and polypeptide dominated the potential for incorporating the virus into a coacervate, with clustering of charges also playing a significant role. Additionally, the hydrophobicity of a virus appears to determine the degree to which increasing the hydrophobicity of the coacervating peptides can enhance virus uptake. Nonintuitive trends in uptake were observed with regard to both charge patterning and polypeptide chain length, with these parameters having a significant effect on the range of coacervate compositions over which virus incorporation was observed. These results provide insights into biophysical mechanisms, where sequence effects can control the uptake of proteins or viruses into biological condensates and provide insights for use in formulation strategies.

Noncrystallographic symmetry-constrained map obtained by direct density optimization

Noncrystallographic symmetry (NCS) averaging following molecular-replacement phasing is generally the major technique used to solve a structure with several molecules in one asymmetric unit, such as a spherical icosahedral viral particle. As an alternative method to NCS averaging, a new approach to optimize or to refine the electron density directly under NCS constraints is proposed. This method has the same effect as the conventional NCS-averaging method but does not include the process of Fourier synthesis to generate the electron density from amplitudes and the corresponding phases. It has great merit for the solution of structures with limited data that are either twinned or incomplete at low resolution. This method was applied to the case of the T = 1 shell-domain subviral particle of Penaeus vannamei nodavirus with data affected by twinning using the REFMAC5 refinement software.

Michael G. Rossmann (1930-2019), pioneer in macromolecular and virus crystallography: scientist, mentor and friend

Michael George Rossmann, who made monumental contributions to science, passed away peacefully in West Lafayette, Indiana on 14 May 2019 at the age of 88, following a courageous five-year battle with cancer. Michael was born in Frankfurt, Germany on 30 July 1930. As a young boy, he emigrated to England with his mother just as World War II ignited. Michael was a highly innovative and energetic person, well known for his intensity, persistence and focus in pursuing his research goals. Michael was a towering figure in crystallography as a highly distinguished faculty member at Purdue University for 55 years. Michael made many seminal contributions to crystallography in a career that spanned the entirety of structural biology, beginning in the 1950s at Cambridge where the first protein structures were determined in the laboratories of Max Perutz (hemoglobin, 1960) and John Kendrew (myoglobin, 1958). Michael's work was central in establishing and defining the field of structural biology, which amazingly has described the structures of a vast array of complex biological molecules and assemblies in atomic detail. Knowledge of three-dimensional biological structure has important biomedical significance including understanding the basis of health and disease at the molecular level, and facilitating the discovery of many drugs.

Ab initio phasing by molecular averaging in real space with new criteria: application to structure determination of a betanodavirus

Molecular averaging, including noncrystallographic symmetry (NCS) averaging, is a powerful method for ab initio phase determination and phase improvement. Applications of the cross-crystal averaging (CCA) method have been shown to be effective for phase improvement after initial phasing by molecular replacement, isomorphous replacement, anomalous dispersion or combinations of these methods. Here, a two-step process for phase determination in the X-ray structural analysis of a new coat protein from a betanodavirus, Grouper nervous necrosis virus, is described in detail. The first step is ab initio structure determination of the T = 3 icosahedral virus-like particle using NCS averaging (NCSA). The second step involves structure determination of the protrusion domain of the viral molecule using cross-crystal averaging. In this method, molecular averaging and solvent flattening constrain the electron density in real space. To quantify these constraints, a new, simple and general indicator, free fraction (ff), is introduced, where ff is defined as the ratio of the volume of the electron density that is freely changed to the total volume of the crystal unit cell. This indicator is useful and effective to evaluate the strengths of both NCSA and CCA. Under the condition that a mask (envelope) covers the target molecule well, an ff value of less than 0.1, as a new rule of thumb, gives sufficient phasing power for the successful construction of new structures.

X-ray crystallography of viruses

For about 30 years X-ray crystallography has been by far the most powerful approach for determining virus structures at close to atomic resolutions. Information provided by these studies has deeply and extensively enriched and shaped our vision of the virus world. In turn, the ever increasing complexity and size of the virus structures being investigated have constituted a major driving force for methodological and conceptual developments in X-ray macromolecular crystallography. Landmarks of new virus structures determinations, such as the ones from the first animal viruses or from the first membrane-containing viruses, have often been associated to methodological breakthroughs in X-ray crystallography. In this chapter we present the common ground of proteins and virus crystallography with an emphasis in the peculiarities of virus studies. For example, the solution of the phase problem, a central issue in X-ray diffraction, has benefited enormously from the presence of non-crystallographic symmetry in virus crystals.

Electrostatically defying cation-cation clusters: can likes attract in a low-polarity environment?

Like-charge ion pairing is commonly observed in protein structures and plays a significant role in biochemical processes. Density functional calculations combined with the conductor-like polarizable continuum model were employed to study the formation possibilities of doubly charged noncovalently linked complexes of a series of model compounds and amino acids in the gas phase and in solution. Hydrogen bond interactions were found to offset the Coulombic repulsion such that cation-cation clusters are minima on the potential energy surfaces and neither counterions nor solvent molecules are needed to hold them together. In the gas phase the dissociation energies are exothermic, and the separation barriers span from 1.7 to 15.6 kcal mol(-1). Liquid-phase computations indicate that the separation enthalpies of the cation-cation complexes become endothermic in water and nonpolar solvents with dielectric constants of ≥7 (i.e., the value for THF). These results reveal that electrostatically defying noncovalent complexes of like-charged ions can overcome their Coulombic repulsion even in low-polarity environments.

Analysis of phases in the structure determination of an icosahedral virus

The constraints imposed on structure-factor phases by noncrystallographic symmetry (NCS) allow phase improvement, phase extension to higher resolution and hence ab initio phase determination. The more numerous the NCS redundancy and the greater the volume used for solvent flattening, the greater the power for phase determination. In a case analyzed here the icosahedral NCS phasing appeared to have broken down, although later successful phase extension was possible when the envelope around the NCS region was tightened. The phases from the failed phase-determination attempt fell into four classes, all of which satisfied the NCS constraints. These four classes corresponded to the correct solution, opposite enantiomorph, Babinet inversion and opposite enantiomorph with Babinet inversion. These incorrect solutions can be seeded from structure factors belonging to reciprocal-space volumes that lie close to icosahedral NCS axes where the structure amplitudes tend to be large and the phases tend to be 0 or π. Furthermore, the false solutions can spread more easily if there are large errors in defining the envelope designating the region in which NCS averaging is performed.

Crystal structure of human recombinant ornithine aminotransferase

Ornithine aminotransferase (OAT), a pyridoxal-5'-phosphate dependent enzyme, catalyses the transfer of the delta-amino group of L-ornithine to 2-oxoglutarate, producing L-glutamate-gamma-semialdehyde, which spontaneously cyclizes to pyrroline-5-carboxylate, and L-glutamate. The crystal structure determination of human recombinant OAT is described in this paper. As a first step, the structure was determined at low resolution (6 A) by molecular replacement using the refined structure of dialkylglycine decarboxylase as a search model. Crystallographic phases were then refined and extended in a step-wise fashion to 2.5 A by cyclic averaging of the electron density corresponding to the three monomers within the asymmetric unit. Interpretation of the resulting map was straightforward and refinement of the model resulted in an R-factor of 17.1% (Rfree=24.3%). The success of the procedure demonstrates the power of real-space molecular averaging even with only threefold redundancy. The alpha6-hexameric molecule is a trimer of intimate dimers with a monomer-monomer interface of 5500 A2 per subunit. The three dimers are related by an approximate 3-fold screw axis with a translational component of 18 A. The monomer fold is that of a typical representative of subgroup 2 aminotransferases and very similar to those described for dialkylglycine decarboxylase from Pseudomonas cepacia and glutamate-1-semialdehyde aminomutase from Synechococcus. It consists of a large domain that contributes most to the subunit interface, a C-terminal small domain most distant to the 2-fold axis and an N-terminal region that contains a helix, a loop and a three stranded beta-meander embracing a protrusion in the large domain of the second subunit of the dimer. The large domain contains the characteristic central seven-stranded beta-sheet (agfedbc) covered by eight helices in a typical alpha/beta fold. The cofactor pyridoxal-5'-phosphate is bound through a Schiff base to Lys292, located in the loop between strands f and g. The C-terminal domain includes a four-stranded antiparallel beta-sheet in contact with the large domain and three further helices at the far end of the subunit. The active sites of the dimer lie, about 25 A apart, at the subunit and domain interfaces. The conical entrances are on opposite sides of the dimer. In the active site, R180, E235 and R413 are probable substrate binding residues. Structure-based sequence comparisons with related transaminases in this work support that view. In patients suffering from gyrate atrophy, a recessive hereditary genetic disorder that can cause blindness in humans, ornithine aminotransferase activity is lacking. A large number of frameshift and point mutations in the ornithine aminotransferase gene have been identified in such patients. Possible effects of the various point mutations on the structural stability or the catalytic competence of the enzyme are discussed in light of the three-dimensional structure.

Crystals of Rous sarcoma virus capsid protein show a helical arrangement of protein subunits

Crystals of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) capsid protein diffract X rays to 3.5 A resolution and belong to the monoclinic space group C2 with unit cell parameters a = 374.4 A, b = 128.1 A, c = 200.2 A, and beta = 121.8 degrees. One asymmetric unit of the crystal may contain between 28 and 35 molecules, based on reasonable crystal density assumptions. A self-rotation function and Patterson synthesis suggest that RSV capsid protein crystallizes as a helical array. The determinants of the viral particle morphology are not encoded in the capsid alone. The assembly of a helical array in the crystal reflects the absence of any conformational switching. However, it is expected that the subunit interactions seen in the crystal will be preferred and will relate to those found in the immature or mature virion.

Ab initio phase determination and phase extension using non-crystallographic symmetry

Non-crystallographic symmetry (NCS) can be used to improve, extend or find ab initio phases to be associated with a set of observed structure amplitudes, resulting in an interpretable electron-density map. The simplest application is merely to improve the accuracy of the phases by cyclically averaging the electron density, Fourier back-transformation of the modified map, and recomputing a new map with the newly found phases. The first sophistication of this procedure is to phase extend, in successive small steps, the currently available phase information to higher resolution, where only observed amplitudes were previously available. A further sophistication is to initiate the phase extension from very low resolution where a simple geometric model, or an electron microscope image, would be consistent with the chosen resolution. A number of recent examples of virus structure determination exist where such ab initio phasing was successful. The ultimate ab initio phase determination would be to extend phases given only an estimate of the F(000) term.

Implications for viral uncoating from the structure of bovine enterovirus

We have determined the crystal structure of a bovine enterovirus, revealing that the topologies of the major capsid proteins and the overall architecture of the virion are similar to those of related picornaviruses. The external loops joining beta-strands are truncated and the canyon region is partially filled by an extension of the VP3 G-H loop giving the viral capsid a relatively smooth appearance. These changes may have implications for cell attachment. In spite of these differences the virus maintains a hydrophobic pocket within VP1, occupied by a specific 'pocket factor' which appears to be myristic acid. These observations support the proposal that a kinetic equilibrium exists between occupied and unoccupied pocket states, with occupation inhibiting uncoating.

Structures of the native and swollen forms of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus determined by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy

BACKGROUND

RNA-protein interactions stabilize many viruses and also the nucleoprotein cores of enveloped animal viruses (e.g. retroviruses). The nucleoprotein particles are frequently pleomorphic and generally unstable due to the lack of strong protein-protein interactions in their capsids. Principles governing their structures are unknown because crystals of such nucleoprotein particles that diffract to high resolution have not previously been produced. Cowpea chlorotic mottle virions (CCMV) are typical of particles stabilized by RNA-protein interactions and it has been found that crystals that diffract beyond 4.5 A resolution are difficult to grow. However, we report here the purification of CCMV with an exceptionally mild procedure and the growth of crystals that diffract X-rays to 3.2 A resolution.

RESULTS

The 3.2 A X-ray structure of native CCMV, an icosahedral (T = 3) RNA plant virus, shows novel quaternary structure interactions based on interwoven carboxyterminal polypeptides that extend from canonical capsid beta-barrel subunits. Additional particle stability is provided by intercapsomere contacts between metal ion mediated carboxyl cages and by protein interactions with regions of ordered RNA. The structure of a metal-free, swollen form of the virus was determined by cryo-electron microscopy and image reconstruction. Modeling of this structure with the X-ray coordinates of the native subunits shows that the 29 A radial expansion is due to electrostatic repulsion at the carboxyl cages and is stopped short of complete disassembly by preservation of interwoven carboxyl termini and protein-RNA contacts.

CONCLUSIONS

The CCMV capsid displays quaternary structural interactions that are unique compared with previously determined RNA virus structures. The loosely coupled hexamer and pentamer morphological units readily explain their versatile reassembly properties and the pH and metal ion dependent polymorphism observed in the virions. Association of capsomeres through inter-penetrating carboxy-terminal portions of the subunit polypeptides has been previously described only for the DNA tumor viruses, SV40 and polyoma.

The lumazine synthase/riboflavin synthase complex of Bacillus subtilis. X-ray structure analysis of hollow reconstituted beta-subunit capsids

The lumazine synthase/riboflavin synthase complex of Bacillus subtilis consists of an icosahedral capsid of 60 beta subunits enclosing a triplet of alpha subunits. An X-ray structure of 0.32 nm resolution has been obtained for the icosahedral capsid of the native alpha 3 beta 60 complex [Ladenstein, R., Schneider, M., Huber, R., Bartunik, H. D., Wilson, K., Schott, K. & Bacher, A. (1988) J. Mol. Biol. 203, 1045-1070]. beta subunits were isolated after denaturation of the alpha 3 beta 60 complex and were subsequently reconstituted in a ligand-driven reaction yielding artifactual, hollow beta 60 capsids with icosahedral symmetry. Hexagonal crystals (space group P6(3)22) of the reconstituted capsids diffracted X-rays to a resolution of 0.32 nm. Crystallographic intensity data were obtained using synchrotron radiation. Freeze-etched electron-microscopic images and rotation function calculations showed that the hexagonal crystal forms of the artifactual beta 60 capsids and the native alpha 3 beta 60 complex are isomorphous. Orientation and translation parameters of the beta-subunit model were refined by XPLOR rigid-body refinement. The electron-density map was improved by cyclic icosahedral averaging and phase extension from 0.5-0.32 nm resolution. The beta-subunit structure was partially refined by energy minimization and crystallographic refinement (XPLOR) assuming strict icosahedral symmetry (final R factor 30.9% for data at 0.8-0.32 nm resolution). The topology and chain folding of the beta subunits in the artifactual beta 60 capsid are similar to the native alpha 3 beta 60 enzyme. Structural features of the substrate-binding site and the binding of the substrate-analogous ligand 5-nitro-6-ribitylamino-2,4(1H,3H)-pyrimidinedione are discussed. Ligand binding occurs at the pentamer interfaces and includes van der Waals' interactions and hydrogen bonding. The binding pocket shows a hydrophobic region which accomodates the pyrimidinedione ring and a hydrophilic region to which the ribityl side chain binds. Most amino acid residues involved in the active site are conserved as shown by sequence comparisons with the putative lumazine-synthase genes of Escherichia coli and Photobacterium leiognathi. In the final electron-density map, a residual density feature was tentatively assigned to a bound phosphate ion which mimics the binding of the second substrate, 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate. This putative phosphate-binding site involves a highly conserved amino acid sequence containing three basic residues.

Treatment of electrostatic effects in proteins: multigrid-based Newton iterative method for solution of the full nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation

The nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation (NPBE) provides a continuum description of the electrostatic field in an ionic medium around a macromolecule. Here, a novel approach to the solution of the full NPBE is developed. This robust and efficient algorithm combines multilevel techniques with a damped inexact Newton's method. The CPU time required for solution of the full NPBE, which is less than that for standard single-grid approaches in solving the corresponding linearized equation, is proportional to the number of unknowns enabling applications to very large macromolecular systems. Convergence of the method is demonstrated for a variety of protein systems. Comparison of the solutions to the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation shows that the damping of the electrostatic field around the charge is increased and that the potential scales logarithmically with charge. The inclusion of the full nonlinearity thus reduces the impact of highly charged residues on protein surfaces and provides a more realistic representation of electrostatic effects. This is demonstrated through calculation of potential around the active site regions of the 1,266-residue tryptophan synthase dimer and in the computation of rate constants from Brownian dynamics calculations in the superoxide dismutase-superoxide and antibody-antigen systems.

Contribution of unusual arginine-arginine short-range interactions to stabilization and recognition in proteins

Although the majority of the ion pairs found in proteins consists of two charges of opposite sign, the observation of some unusual arrangements of two arginines led us to a search of such occurrences in the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank. We have found 41 Arginine-Arginine interactions with a C zeta ... C zeta distance less than 5 A. Computer graphics analysis of these structures shows that most of the Arg-Arg pairs are found in the vicinity of the surface of the proteins, in an easily hydrated region. In order to determine which factors could stabilize such arrangements of species of similar charge, we have carried out AM1 semi-empirical calculations on a model of two guanidinium ions surrounded by several water molecules. The results show the existence of stable clusters with six or more water molecules, with distances between C zeta atoms around 3 A. The bridging role of the water molecules is an important structural and energetic feature and we find bridges of two and three molecules between the guanidinium ions. These results are in good agreement with the structures found in our search of the experimental data. Enhancement of the electrostatic potential around these clusters, when compared to one of the guanidinium ions alone, is also demonstrated.

Computational challenges for macromolecular structure determination by X-ray crystallography and solution NMR-spectroscopy

Macromolecular structure determination by X-ray crystallography and solution NMR spectroscopy has experienced unprecedented growth during the past decade.

Ordered duplex RNA controls capsid architecture in an icosahedral animal virus

Small spherical viruses are among the simplest replicating systems in biology, yet the factors affecting their assembly, stability and disassembly are still poorly understood. A molecular switch is required for the assembly of icosahedral virus particles containing more than 60 identical subunits because strict symmetry cannot be maintained in subunit packing. All previously reported viruses with this type of structure use a portion of the capsid protein to regulate interactions between chemically equivalent but structurally distinct interfaces. We have investigated the T = 3 quasiequivalent nodaviruses, which are small non-enveloped viruses with a single-stranded RNA genome that infect insects, mice and fish. They undergo a well-characterized series of steps in assembly and maturation, which in some respects are similar to the picornaviruses, despite their different capsid architecture. Here we report the X-ray structure of Flock House virus at 3.0 A resolution, which reveals an ordered RNA duplex of 20 nucleotides and a protein segment that control the subunit interactions in this animal virus. The RNA interacts with a helical protein domain of the subunit that lies inside the capsid shell. One of the helices that binds the RNA is part of a 44-amino-acid polypeptide which is autocatalytically cleaved from the initial subunit translation product after virion assembly. The structure indicates that RNA associated with the cleaved polypeptide may be important in the infection process.

Double-helical RNA in satellite tobacco mosaic virus

Satellite tobacco mosaic virus (STMV) is the spherical satellite to an obligatory rod-shaped helper tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), which is required for replication. STMV has 60 protein subunits of M(r) 17,500 on a T = 1 icosahedral capsid containing a single-stranded RNA genome of 1,059 bases. STMV appears similar to another virus, STNV, but is approximately 20 per cent smaller. It shows no amino-acid homology or immunological cross-reactivity with either STNV or its host TMV. Here we report the X-ray crystal structure of STMV, which shows that the coat protein of STMV contains a 'Swiss roll' beta-barrel. An amino-terminal strand extends more than 60A and is primarily responsible for quaternary interactions. Each capsid dimer is associated with a segment of genomic RNA double helix comprising seven base pairs. The dyad of each protein dimer is coincident with that of the central base pair of the associated RNA segment whose helix axis is directed along an icosahedral edge. Protein-nucleic acid interactions are extensive. The RNA helices, which have additional stacked bases at their 3' termini, differ significantly from canonical nucleic acid helical forms.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of coxsackievirus B1

Preparations of coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1) derived from an infectious cDNA clone have been crystallized in multiple crystal forms. Using high intensity synchrotron radiation, an orthorhombic form of the crystals was shown to diffract X-rays to at least 2.9 A resolution. The unit cell has a primitive lattice with dimensions a = 323 A, b = 450 A, and c = 522 A. A crystallographic asymmetric unit of these CVB1 crystals probably contains an entire virus particle, implying the presence of 60-fold non-crystallographic redundancy. This CVB1 crystal form appears to be suitable for high-resolution structure determination by X-ray crystallography.

The application of the molecular replacement method to the de novo determination of protein structure

The determination of a novel protein structure by X-ray diffraction is seldom straightforward. Three hurdles present themselves (i) the protein must be purified in sufficient quantity to allow crystallization trials, (ii) crystals must be grown to adequate size and must diffract to a resolution that will allow atomic detail to be revealed, and (iii) phases must be determined for the diffracted X-ray beams in order that an initial electron-density map may be calculated.

The three-dimensional structure of the bacterial virus MS2

The structure of the icosahedral bacteriophage MS2 has been determined to 3.3 A resolution by X-ray crystallography. The phase determination involved both molecular replacement at low resolution using a known structure and heavy-atom substitution. The coat protein has no structural similarity to that of any other known RNA virus.

Preliminary investigation of the phage phi X174 crystal structure

Crystals of the single-stranded DNA bacteriophage phi X174 have been grown. They have a monoclinic unit cell with space group P2(1), unit cell dimensions of a = 306.0 (+/- 0.2) A, b = 361.1 (+/- 0.2) A, c = 299.7 (+/- 0.2 degrees) A, beta = 92.91 degrees (+/- 0.02 degrees) and diffract to at least 2.7 A resolution. There are two virus particles per unit cell. Packing considerations show that the mean diameter of the virus particles is 280 A. The virus separates into two bands in a sucrose gradient. The ratio between the absorbance at 260 nm and 280 nm is 1.45 to 1.65 for the faster and 1.15 to 1.35 for the slower bands, but both bands contain intact particles. Crystals derived from these bands are isomorphous and there is no detectable difference in their structure amplitudes.

Conformational variability of a picornavirus capsid: pH-dependent structural changes of Mengo virus related to its host receptor attachment site and disassembly

The structure of Mengo virus had been determined from crystals grown in the presence of 100 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. It is shown that Mengo virus is poorly infectious at the phosphate concentration similar to that in which it was crystallized. Maximal infectivity is achieved at 10 mM phosphate or less in physiological saline. The phosphate effect is ameliorated when the pH is lowered to 4.6. Although it has not been possible to study the crystal structure of the virus at low phosphate concentrations, it is shown that increasing the Cl- concentration at pH 6.2 or decreasing the pH to 4.6 causes substantial conformational changes confined to the "pit," a deep surface depression. These structural changes involve a movement of the "FMDV loop" (GH loop) in VP1, an ordering of the "VP3 loop" (GH loop in VP3) between 3176 and 3182, the displacement of a bound phosphate near the "FMDV loop" (GH loop in VP1), and movement of the carboxy terminus of VP2. The changes in conformation are correlated with the dissociation of the virion into pentamers at pH 6.2 and 150 mM Cl-. The localization of the conformational changes and the correlated role of the phosphate in controlling infectivity support the hypothesis that the "pit" is the receptor attachment site.

Analysis of the structure of a common cold virus, human rhinovirus 14, refined at a resolution of 3.0 A

Human rhinovirus 14 has a pseudo T = 3 icosahedral structure in which 60 copies of the three larger capsid proteins VP1, VP2 and VP3 are arranged in an icosahedral surface lattice, reminiscent of T = 3 viruses such as tomato bushy stunt virus and southern bean mosaic virus. The overall secondary and tertiary structures of VP1, VP2 and VP3 are very similar. The structure of human rhinovirus 14, which was refined at a resolution of 3.0 A [R = 0.16 for reflections with F greater than 3 sigma(F)], is here analyzed in detail. Quantitative analysis of the surface areas of contact (proportional to hydrophobic free energy of association) supports the previously assigned arrangement within the promoter, in which interactions between VP1 and VP3 predominate. Major contacts among VP1, VP2 and VP3 are between the beta-barrel moieties. VP4 is associated with the capsid interior by a distributed network of contacts with VP1, VP2 and VP3 within a promoter. As the virion assembly proceeds, the solvent-accessible surface area becomes increasingly hydrophilic in character. A mixed parallel and antiparallel seven-stranded sheet is composed of the beta C, beta H, beta E and beta F strands of VP3 in one pentamer and beta A1 and beta A2 of VP2 and the VP1 amino terminus in another pentamer. This association plays an essential role in holding pentamers together in the mature virion as this contact region includes more than half of the total short non-bonded contacts between pentamers. Contacts between protomers within pentamers are more extensive than the contacts between pentamers, accounting in part for the stability of pentamers. The previously identified immunogenic regions are correlated with high solvent accessibility, accessibility to large probes and also high thermal parameters. Surface residues in the canyon, the putative cellular receptor recognition site, have lower thermal parameters than other portions of the human rhinovirus 14 surface. Many of the water molecules in the ordered solvent model are located at subunit interfaces. A number of unusual crevices exist in the protein shell of human rhinovirus 14, including the hydrophobic pocket in VP1 which is the locus of binding for the WIN antiviral agents. These may be required for conformational flexibility during assembly and disassembly. The structures of the beta-barrels of human rhinovirus 14 VP1, VP2 and VP3 are compared with each other and with the southern bean mosaic virus coat protein.

Structure determination and refinement of Bacillus stearothermophilus lactate dehydrogenase

Structures have been determined of Bacillus stearothermophilus "apo" and holo lactate dehydrogenase. The holo-enzyme had been co-crystallized with the activator fructose 1,6-bisphosphate. The "apo" lactate dehydrogenase structure was solved by use of the known apo-M4 dogfish lactate dehydrogenase molecule as a starting model. Phases were refined and extended from 4 A to 3 A resolution by means of the noncrystallographic molecular 222 symmetry. The R-factor was reduced to 28.7%, using 2.8 A resolution data, in a restrained least-squares refinement in which the molecular symmetry was imposed as a constraint. A low occupancy of coenzyme was found in each of the four subunits of the "apo"-enzyme. Further refinement proceeded with the isomorphous holo-enzyme from Bacillus stearothermophilus. After removing the noncrystallographic constraints, the R-factor dropped from 30.3% to a final value of 26.0% with a 0.019 A and 1.7 degrees r.m.s. deviation from idealized bond lengths and angles, respectively. Two sulfate ions per subunit were included in the final model of the "apo"-form--one at the substrate binding site and one close to the molecular P-axis near the location of the fructose 1,6-bisphosphate activator. The final model of the holo-enzyme incorporated two sulfate ions per subunit, one at the substrate binding site and another close to the R-axis. One nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide coenzyme molecule per subunit and two fructose 1,6-bisphosphate molecules per tetramer were also included. The phosphate positions of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate are close to the sulfate ion near the P-axis in the "apo" model. This structure represents the first reported refined model of an allosteric activated lactate dehydrogenase. The structure of the activated holo-enzyme showed far greater similarity to the ternary complex of dogfish M4 lactate dehydrogenase with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and oxamate than to apo-M4 dogfish lactate dehydrogenase. The conformations of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate were also analyzed.

Crystal structure of human rhinovirus serotype 1A (HRV1A)

The structure of human rhinovirus 1A (HRV1A) has been determined to 3.2 A resolution using phase refinement and extension by symmetry averaging starting with phases at 5 A resolution calculated from the known human rhinovirus 14 (HRV14) structure. The polypeptide backbone structures of HRV1A and HRV14 are similar, but the exposed surfaces are rather different. Differential charge distribution of amino acid residues in the "canyon", the putative receptor binding site, provides a possible explanation for the difference in minor versus major receptor group specificities, represented by HRV1A and HRV14, respectively. The hydrophobic pocket in VP1, into which antiviral compounds bind, is in an "open" conformation similar to that observed in drug-bound HRV14. Drug binding in HRV1A does not induce extensive conformational changes, in contrast to the case of HRV14.

Genetic and molecular analyses of spontaneous mutants of human rhinovirus 14 that are resistant to an antiviral compound

Spontaneous mutants of human rhinovirus 14 resistant to WIN 52084, an antiviral compound that inhibits attachment to cells, were isolated by selecting plaques that developed when wild-type virus was plated in the presence of high (2 micrograms/ml) or low (0.1 to 0.4 micrograms/ml) concentrations of the compound. Two classes of drug resistance were observed: a high-resistance (HR) class with a frequency of about 4 x 10(-5), and a low-resistance (LR) class with a 10- to 30-fold-higher frequency. The RNA genomes of 56 HR mutants and 13 LR mutants were sequenced in regions encoding the drug-binding site. The HR mutations mapped to only 2 of the 16 amino acid residues that form the walls of the drug-binding pocket. The side chains of these two residues point directly into the pocket and were invariably replaced by bulkier groups. These findings, and patterns of resistance to related WIN compounds, support the concept that HR mutations may hinder the entry or seating of drug within the binding pocket. In contrast, all of the LR mutations mapped to portions of the polypeptide chain near the canyon floor that move when the drug is inserted. Because several LR mutations partially reverse the attachment-inhibiting effect of WIN compounds, these mutants provide useful tools for studying the regions of the capsid structure involved in attachment. This paper shows that the method of escape mutant analysis, previously used to identify antibody binding sites on human rhinovirus 14, is also applicable to analysis of antiviral drug activity.

Three-dimensional structures of drug-resistant mutants of human rhinovirus 14

Mutants of human rhinovirus 14 were isolated and characterized by searching for resistance to compounds that inhibit viral uncoating. The portions of the RNA that code for amino acids that surround the antiviral compound binding site were sequenced. X-ray analysis of two of these mutants, 1188 Val----Leu and 1199 Cys----Tyr, shows that these were single-site substitutions which would sterically hinder drug binding. Differences in the resistance of mutant viruses to various antiviral compounds may be rationalized in terms of the three-dimensional structures of these mutants. Predictions of the structures of mutant rhinovirus 14 with the substitutions 1188 Val----Leu, 1199 Cys----Tyr and 1199 Cys----Trp in VP1 were made using a molecular dynamics technique. The predicted structure of the 1199 Cys----Tyr mutant was consistent with the electron density map, while the 1188 Val----Leu prediction was not. Large (up to 1.4 A) conformational differences between native rhinovirus 14 and the 1199 Cys----Tyr mutant occurred in main-chain atoms near the mutation site. These changes, as well as the orientation of the 1199 tyrosine side-chain, were correctly predicted by the molecular dynamics calculation. The structure of the predicted 1199 Cys----Trp mutation is consistent with the drug-resistant properties of this virus.

The structure of antiviral agents that inhibit uncoating when complexed with viral capsids

The tertiary structure of most icosahedral viral capsid proteins consists of an eight-stranded antiparallel beta-barrel with a hydrophobic interior. In a group of picornaviruses, this hydrophobic pocket can be filled by suitable organic molecules, which stop viral uncoating after attachment and penetration into the host cell. The antiviral activity of these agents is probably due to increased rigidity of the capsid protein, thereby inhibiting disassembly. The hydrophobic pocket may be an essential functional component of the protein and may have been conserved in the evolution of many viruses from a common precursor. Since eight-stranded anti-parallel beta-barrels, with a topology as in viral capsid proteins, are not generally found in other proteins involved in cell metabolism, antiviral agents that bind in the interior of viral capsid proteins are likely to be more virus-specific and less cytotoxic. Furthermore, the greatest conservation of viral capsid proteins occurs within this pocket, whereas the least conserved part is the antigenic exterior. Thus, compounds that bind to such a pocket are likely to be effective against a broader group of serologically distinct viruses. Discovery of antiviral agents of this type depends on designing compounds that can enter and fit snugly into the hydrophobic pocket of a particular viral capsid protein.

Structural analysis of antiviral agents that interact with the capsid of human rhinoviruses

X-Ray diffraction data have been obtained for nine related antiviral agents ("WIN compounds") while bound to human rhinovirus 14 (HRV14). These compounds can inhibit both viral attachment to host cells and uncoating. To calculate interpretable electron density maps it was necessary to account for (1) the low (approximately 60%) occupancies of these compounds in the crystal, (2) the large (up to 7.9 A) conformational changes induced at the attachment site, and (3) the incomplete diffraction data. Application of a density difference map technique, which exploits the 20-fold noncrystallographic redundancy in HRV14, resulted in clear images of the HRV14:WIN complexes. A real-space refinement procedure was used to fit atomic models to these maps. The binding site of WIN compounds in HRV14 is a hydrophobic pocket composed mainly from residues that form the beta-barrel of VP1. Among rhinoviruses, the residues associated with the binding pocket are far more conserved than external residues and are mostly contained within regular secondary structural elements. Molecular dynamics simulations of three HRV14:WIN complexes suggest that portions of the WIN compounds and viral protein near the entrance of the binding pocket are more flexible than portions deeper within the beta-barrel.