Center for Infectious Disease Research, Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure & Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
J Virol. 2023 Jun 29;97(6):e0026823. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00268-23. Epub 2023 May 16.
African swine fever virus (ASFV), the cause of a highly contagious hemorrhagic and fatal disease of domestic pigs, has a complex multilayer structure. The inner capsid of ASFV located underneath the inner membrane enwraps the genome-containing nucleoid and is likely the assembly of proteolytic products from the virally encoded polyproteins pp220 and pp62. Here, we report the crystal structure of ASFV p150, a major middle fragment of the pp220 proteolytic product p150. The structure of ASFV p150 contains mainly helices and has a triangular plate-like shape. The triangular plate is approximately 38 Å in thickness, and the edge of the triangular plate is approximately 90 Å long. The structure of ASFV p150 is not homologous to any of the known viral capsid proteins. Further analysis of the cryo-electron microscopy maps of the ASFV and the homologous faustovirus inner capsids revealed that p150 or the p150-like protein of faustovirus assembles to form screwed propeller-shaped hexametric and pentametric capsomeres of the icosahedral inner capsids. Complexes of the C terminus of p150 and other proteolytic products of pp220 likely mediate interactions between the capsomeres. Together, these findings provide new insights into the assembling of ASFV inner capsid and provide a reference for understanding the assembly of the inner capsids of nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV). African swine fever virus has caused catastrophic destruction to the pork industry worldwide since it was first discovered in Kenya in 1921. The architecture of ASFV is complicated, with two protein shells and two membrane envelopes. Currently, mechanisms involved in the assembly of the ASFV inner core shell are less understood. The structural studies of the ASFV inner capsid protein p150 performed in this research enable the building of a partial model of the icosahedral ASFV inner capsid, which provides a structural basis for understanding the structure and assembly of this complex virion. Furthermore, the structure of ASFV p150 represents a new type of fold for viral capsid assembly, which could be a common fold for the inner capsid assembly of nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) and would facilitate the development of vaccine and antivirus drugs against these complex viruses.
非洲猪瘟病毒(ASFV)是一种高度传染性的出血性和致命性疾病的病原体,具有复杂的多层结构。ASFV 的内层衣壳位于内膜下方,包裹着基因组包含的核质体,可能是病毒编码的多蛋白 pp220 和 pp62 的蛋白水解产物的组装体。在这里,我们报告了 ASFV p150 的晶体结构,p150 是 pp220 蛋白水解产物 p150 的主要中间片段。ASFV p150 的结构主要包含螺旋,呈三角形板状。三角形板的厚度约为 38 Å,三角形板的边缘约为 90 Å 长。ASFV p150 的结构与任何已知的病毒衣壳蛋白都没有同源性。对 ASFV 和同源的 Faustovirus 内层衣壳的冷冻电子显微镜图谱的进一步分析表明,p150 或 Faustovirus 的 p150 样蛋白组装形成螺旋桨形六聚体和五聚体衣壳亚基,构成二十面体内层衣壳。p150 的 C 末端和 pp220 的其他蛋白水解产物的复合物可能介导衣壳亚基之间的相互作用。这些发现为 ASFV 内层衣壳的组装提供了新的见解,并为理解核质大 DNA 病毒(NCLDV)的内层衣壳组装提供了参考。非洲猪瘟病毒自 1921 年在肯尼亚首次发现以来,已在全球范围内对猪肉产业造成了灾难性的破坏。ASFV 的结构很复杂,有两层蛋白壳和两层膜包膜。目前,对 ASFV 内核心壳组装机制的了解还较少。本研究中对 ASFV 内层衣壳蛋白 p150 的结构研究,使得构建了部分二十面体 ASFV 内层衣壳的模型,为理解这种复杂病毒的结构和组装提供了结构基础。此外,ASFV p150 的结构代表了一种新型的病毒衣壳组装方式,可能是核质大 DNA 病毒(NCLDV)内层衣壳组装的常见折叠方式,并有助于针对这些复杂病毒开发疫苗和抗病毒药物。