UCLA study produces clearest images to date of HSV-1, the virus that causes cold sores

UCLA researchers have produced the clearest 3-D images to date of the virus that causes cold sores, herpes simplex virus type 1, or HSV-1. The images enabled them to map the virus ’ structure and offered new insights into how HSV-1 works.A report on the research was published online by the journal Science.The scientists used cryo electron microscopy, or cryoEM, to obtain the first atomic model of the virus particle, which is made up of more than 3,000 protein molecules comprising tens of millions of atoms.“We’ve known that HSV-1 can hide inside the nucleus of the nerve cell and establish life-long latent infection inside most of us,” said Xinghong Dai, a UCLA researcher and the study’s first author. “But it was unclear how the virus travels from the nucleus of a nerve cell, along the long p rojection called the axon, and to the skin surface where the sore occurs. This is the first time we’ve seen how those cellular transport vehicles could bind to their cargo, the HSV-1 capsid ― the protein shell of the virus.”The study ’s senior author is Z. Hong Zhou, director of theElectron Imaging Center for NanoMachines at theCalifornia NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, and a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics.Until now, scientists were unable to produce a clear view of the virus to study its patterns and behavior. Zhou and his team used a method called subparticle refinement to enhance the clarity of selected areas of the cryoEM images.The new ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news