In new work led by researchers at the University of Leeds' Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) were used to investigate the structure of a small plant virus, Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV). The work* sought to reveal the mechanism of capsid assembly and genome encapsidation of CPMV, laying the groundwork for use of this virus capsid in biotechnology applications. CPMV can replicate to produce many billions of identical copies of itself in plants. The virus is comprised of a hollow sphere of protein, or capsid, which is in turn made up of multiple copies of the 'small' and 'large' subunits. Inside this capsid is the virus' single stranded RNA genome. The research sought to investigate how the capsid assembles and in particular how it packages its genome.
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