Structural Studies of Hantaan Virus

• DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01847-10
• Publication Date: 2010-11-11T03:52:11Z
• Authors: Anthony J. Battisti; Yong-Kyu Chu; Paul R. Chipman; Bärbel Kaufmann; Colleen B. Jonsson; Michael G. Rossmann
• Keywords: Electron Microscope Tomography; Viral Proteins; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Macromolecular Substances; Chlorocebus aethiops; Cryoelectron Microscopy; Virion; Animals; Vero Cells; Hantaan virus; 3. Good health

ABSTRACT

Hantaan virus is the prototypic member of the Hantavirus genus within the family Bunyaviridae and is a causative agent of the potentially fatal hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. The Bunyaviridae are a family of negative-sense RNA viruses with three-part segmented genomes. Virions are enveloped and decorated with spikes derived from a pair of glycoproteins (Gn and Gc). Here, we present cryo-electron tomography and single-particle cryo-electron microscopy studies of Hantaan virus virions. We have determined the structure of the tetrameric Gn-Gc spike complex to a resolution of 2.5 nm and show that spikes are ordered in lattices on the virion surface. Large cytoplasmic extensions associated with each Gn-Gc spike also form a lattice on the inner surface of the viral membrane. Rod-shaped ribonucleoprotein complexes are arranged into nearly parallel pairs and triplets within virions. Our results differ from the T=12 icosahedral organization found for some bunyaviruses. However, a comparison of our results with the previous tomographic studies of the nonpathogenic Tula hantavirus indicates a common structural organization for hantaviruses.