MICROSCOPY Vol.44▶No.2 2009
â– Feature Articles: High-resolution Structural Analysis of Biological Macromolecules

EM Study of Supramolecules Involved in the Life Cycle of Rice Dwarf Virus

Kenji Iwasaki, Naoyuki Miyazaki, Sumie Katayama, and Toshihiro Omura

Abstract: Rice dwarf disease is caused by rice dwarf virus (RDV) transmitted to rice plants by leafhoppers (Recilia dorsalis and Nephotettix cincticeps). We proposed the mechanism how RDV, which can multiply in both plants and insect vectors, transmit to adjacent cells in insect vector cells in previous report. That idea was conceived from the tomogram of the RDV-infected cells reconstructed from dual axis tilt series. We also reported the role of outer capsid of RDV composed of double shells by investigating the tubular crystals of P8, major outer capsid protein. This review summarizes these two topics.

Key words: tomography, helical reconstruction, virus, RDV