3.5Å cryoEM structure of hepatitis B virus core assembled from full-length core protein.

The capsid shell of infectious hepatitis B virus (HBV) is composed of 240 copies of a single protein called HBV core antigen (HBc). An atomic model of a core assembled from truncated HBc was determined previously by X-ray crystallography. In an attempt to obtain atomic structural information of HBV core in a near native, non-crystalline environment, we reconstructed a 3.5Å-resolution structure of a recombinant core assembled from full-length HBc by cryo electron microscopy (cryoEM) and derived an atomic model. The structure shows that the 240 molecules of full-length HBc form a core with two layers. The outer layer, composed of the N-terminal assembly domain, is similar to the crystal structure of the truncated HBc, but has three differences. First, unlike the crystal structure, our cryoEM structure shows no disulfide bond between the Cys61 residues of the two subunits within the dimer building block, indicating such bond is not required for core formation. Second, our cryoEM structure reveals up to four more residues in the linker region (amino acids 140-149). Third, the loops in the cryoEM structures containing this linker region in subunits B and C are oriented differently (~30° and ~90°) from their counterparts in the crystal structure. The inner layer, composed of the C-terminal arginine-rich domain (ARD) and the ARD-bound RNAs, is partially-ordered and connected with the outer layer through linkers positioned around the two-fold axes. Weak densities emanate from the rims of positively charged channels through the icosahedral three-fold and local three-fold axes. We attribute these densities to the exposed portions of some ARDs, thus explaining ARD's accessibility by proteases and antibodies. Our data supports a role of ARD in mediating communication between inside and outside of the core during HBV maturation and envelopment

On the Forward-Backward Asymmetry of Leptonic Decays of ttˉt\bar{t} at the Fermilab Tevatron

We report on a study of the measurement techniques used to determine the leptonic forward-backward asymmetry of top anti-top quark pairs in Tevatron experiments with a proton anti-proton initial state. Recently it was shown that a fit of the differential asymmetry as a function of $q_{l}\eta_{l}$ (where $q_{l}$ is the charge of the lepton from the cascade decay of the top quarks and $\eta_{l}$ is the final pseudorapidity of the lepton in the detector frame) to a hyperbolic tangent function can be used to extrapolate to the full leptonic asymmetry. We find this empirical method to well reproduce the results from current experiments, and present arguments as to why this is the case. We also introduce two more models, based on Gaussian functions, that better model the $q_{l}\eta_{l}$ distribution. With our better understanding, we find that the asymmetry is mainly determined by the shift of the mean of the $q_{l}\eta_{l}$ distribution, the main contribution to the inclusive asymmetry comes from the region around $|q_{l}\eta_{l}| = 1$, and the extrapolation from the detector-covered region to the inclusive asymmetry is stable via a multiplicative scale factor, giving us confidence in the previously reported experimental results.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figure

Cryo-EM structures of herpes simplex virus type 1 portal vertex and packaged genome.

Herpesviruses are enveloped viruses that are prevalent in the human population and are responsible for diverse pathologies, including cold sores, birth defects and cancers. They are characterized by a highly pressurized pseudo-icosahedral capsid-with triangulation number (T) equal to 16-encapsidating a tightly packed double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome1-3. A key process in the herpesvirus life cycle involves the recruitment of an ATP-driven terminase to a unique portal vertex to recognize, package and cleave concatemeric dsDNA, ultimately giving rise to a pressurized, genome-containing virion4,5. Although this process has been studied in dsDNA phages6-9-with which herpesviruses bear some similarities-a lack of high-resolution in situ structures of genome-packaging machinery has prevented the elucidation of how these multi-step reactions, which require close coordination among multiple actors, occur in an integrated environment. To better define the structural basis of genome packaging and organization in herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), we developed sequential localized classification and symmetry relaxation methods to process cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) images of HSV-1 virions, which enabled us to decouple and reconstruct hetero-symmetric and asymmetric elements within the pseudo-icosahedral capsid. Here we present in situ structures of the unique portal vertex, genomic termini and ordered dsDNA coils in the capsid spooled around a disordered dsDNA core. We identify tentacle-like helices and a globular complex capping the portal vertex that is not observed in phages, indicative of herpesvirus-specific adaptations in the DNA-packaging process. Finally, our atomic models of portal vertex elements reveal how the fivefold-related capsid accommodates symmetry mismatch imparted by the dodecameric portal-a longstanding mystery in icosahedral viruses-and inform possible DNA-sequence recognition and headful-sensing pathways involved in genome packaging. This work showcases how to resolve symmetry-mismatched elements in a large eukaryotic virus and provides insights into the mechanisms of herpesvirus genome packaging