Jack Johnson (Structural Virology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA)
Abstract: Time resolved electron cryomicroscopy and image analysis were used to examine the subunit folding and stabilization of a T=4 virus particle during maturation. The EM data were analyzed with difference maps between the time points to show that the four, sequentially identical, subunits in the icosahedral asymmetric unit folded at different rates, with those adjacent to icosahedral symmetry axes folding more rapidly than those adjacent to molecular switches mediating subunit association. Analyzing the data with maximum likelihood reconstructions and variance analysis showed the same trends, with maximum variance in those subunits still undergoing folding.