Electron cryotomography of SARS-CoV-2 virions reveals cylinder-shaped particles with a double layer RNP assembly

Lesley J Calder; Thomas Calcraft; Saira Hussain; Ruth Harvey; Peter B Rosenthal

doi:10.1038/s42003-022-04183-1

Electron cryotomography of SARS-CoV-2 virions reveals cylinder-shaped particles with a double layer RNP assembly

Commun Biol. 2022 Nov 10;5(1):1210. doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-04183-1.

Authors

Lesley J Calder^#¹, Thomas Calcraft^#¹, Saira Hussain^{2

3}, Ruth Harvey², Peter B Rosenthal⁴

Affiliations

¹ Structural Biology of Cells and Viruses Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT, London, United Kingdom.
² Worldwide Influenza Centre, The Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT, London, UK.
³ RNA Virus Replication Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT, London, UK.
⁴ Structural Biology of Cells and Viruses Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT, London, United Kingdom. peter.rosenthal@crick.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a lipid-enveloped Betacoronavirus and cause of the Covid-19 pandemic. To study the three-dimensional architecture of the virus, we perform electron cryotomography (cryo-ET) on SARS-Cov-2 virions and three variants revealing particles of regular cylindrical morphology. The ribonucleoprotein particles packaging the genome in the virion interior form a dense, double layer assembly with a cylindrical shape related to the overall particle morphology. This organisation suggests structural interactions important to virus assembly.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Cryoelectron Microscopy / methods
Electrons
Humans
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2*
Virion

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding