The morphology of herpes virus
1960; Elsevier BV; Volume: 12; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0042-6822(60)90195-1
ISSN1096-0341
AutoresP. Wildy, W. C. Russell, R.W. Horne,
Tópico(s)Toxoplasma gondii Research Studies
ResumoThe morphology of herpes simplex virus (strain HFEM) has been studied with the electron microscope using the phosphotungstate method for negative contrast. Characteristic particles were found in preparations made from virus produced in tissue cultures of HeLa cells and chick embryo cells, but were most clearly seen after substantial purification. The particles were found to consist of three main parts (1) the core, which is embedded in (2) a characteristic shell (capsid), surrounding which is (3) the envelope; not all particles possessed all these structures. The core showed evidence of polyhedral shape and its average diameter was 775 A. The capsid, the average diameter of which was 1050 A, was found to be composed of 162 substructures (capsomeres) which were arranged in an orderly manner showing 5:3:2 axial symmetry. Evidence is presented which shows that the capsid is icosahedral. The capsomeres appeared as hollow, elongated polygonal prisms with mean dimensions of 95 × 125 A with a hole of about 40 A diameter running down the middle. Most of these structures appeared hexagonal in cross section, but a few appeared pentagonal, suggesting that each is composed of six (or five) smaller subunits. The envelope, of which the mean over-all diameter was 1800 A, was frequently seen to possess periodic projections at its periphery.
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