Viral life cycles captured in three-dimensions with electron microscopy tomography.

Viruses hijack host cell functions and optimize them for viral replication causing a severe threat to human health. However, viruses are also tools to understand cell biology and they may be effective reagents in nano-medicine. Studies from the molecular to cellular levels are aimed at understanding the details of viral life cycles and the underlying virus-host interactions. Recent developments in electron microscopy tomography allow viral and cellular events to be observed in fine structural detail in three-dimension. By combining high-resolution structures of individual proteins and macro-complexes obtained by crystallography and electron cryo-microscopy and image reconstruction with reconstructions performed on sub-tomographic volumes, electron tomography has advanced the structural and mechanistic understanding of virus infections both in vitro and in host cells.