Liddington R C, Yan Y, Moulai J, Sahli R, Benjamin T L, Harrison S C
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Nature. 1991 Nov 28;354(6351):278-84. doi: 10.1038/354278a0.
The crystallographically determined structure of simian virus 40 shows that the 72 pentamers of viral protein VP1, which form the outer shell, have identical conformations except for the C-terminal arms of their subunits. Five arms emerge from each pentamer and insert into neighbouring pentamers. This tying together of standard building blocks allows for the required variability in packing geometry without sacrificing specificity.
猴病毒40晶体结构分析表明，构成外壳的病毒蛋白VP1的72个五聚体，除亚基的C端臂外，具有相同的构象。每个五聚体伸出五条臂，插入相邻的五聚体中。这种标准结构单元的连接方式在不牺牲特异性的情况下，允许包装几何结构有必要的变异性。
