项目来源

德国科学基金(DFG)

项目主持人

Professorin Dr. Jacomine Krijnse Locker, Ph.D.

项目受资助机构

未公开

立项年度

2005

立项时间

未公开

项目编号

5455996

项目级别

国家级

研究期限

未知 / 未知

受资助金额

未知

学科

未公开

学科代码

未公开

基金类别

Schwerpunktprogramme

关键词

未公开

参与者

Professorin Dr. Jacomine Krijnse Locker, Ph.D.

参与机构

未公开

项目标书摘要：Vaccinia virus (VV), a member of the poxviridae a family of large DNA viruses, was used successfully to eradicate variola virus, the cause of smallpox. Currently, VV vaccination is the only effective means to prevent deliberate smallpox dissemination. VV recombinants are also used as viral vectors to induce immunity to other pathogens or to treat certain forms of cancer. The structure and assembly of VV, the prototype member of the poxvirus family, is only partially understood and controversial. We will use cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) on whole cells to study the defined VV disassembly intermediates as well as VV as it leaves the cell, early and late in infection, respectively. These viral particles are located at the edge of infected cells and will be analyzed in 3D by cryo-ET using rapidly (plunge-) frozen cells grown on EM grids. VV-assembly, known to occur close to the nucleus in thicker parts of the cell, will be studied using frozen hydrated sections of high pressure frozen infected cells, in a close collaboration with the group of Dubochet (Lausanne). We will focus on imaging and reconstructing by cryo-ET the viral precursor membranes, that ultimately make up the mature virion, in particular their relation to and connections with cellular membranes. Together with a recent cryo-ET study on intact, purified VV particles, carried out by the coinvestigator, these studies should enable us to make substantial progress in understanding the structure and assembly of VV.