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Unravelling the symmetry of a virus capsid using assembly information
Viruses are special in the PDB because not all the chains that are present in the so called crystallographic asymmetric unit are deposited. Instead, only the minimum numbers of chains that can uniquely describe an icosahedral repeat unit are deposited in the PDB.
- The elements of icosahedral symmetry involve 6 five-fold, 10 three-fold, and 15 two-fold rotation axes
- Symmetry operations are then used to generate the full viral capsid.
- PDB entry 2WS9 has four chains in the file. But the actual assembly (viral capsid) is a 240-mer
- The hetero 240-mer assembly in the image displays the full virus capsid for the entry 2WS9
- The assembly images of the hetero 20-mer and hetero 24-mer reveal the five-fold and the (2 x 3) fold rotation axes of the icosahedral repeat
An example of unravelling the symmetry of a viral capsid using assembly information is shown in Figure 31.
