Drosophila A Virus

Drosophila A Virus

The vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a popular model for the study of invertebrate antiviral immune responses. Among the uncharacterised small RNA viruses of D. melanogaster Drosophila A virus (DAV) is the least pathogenic. The 8Ã DAV virion structure computed from cryo-electron microscopy and image reconstruction indicates that the virus structural protein forms two discrete domains within the capsid. The inner domain is formed from a clear T=3 lattice with similarity to the beta-sandwich domain of tomato bush stunt virus, while the outer domain is not icosahedrally ordered but forms a cage-like structure that surrounds the core domain. Taken together this indicates that DAV is highly divergent from previously described viruses.

Gabriel C. Lander – Rebecca L. Ambrose, Walid S. Maaty, Brian Bothner, John E. Johnson and Karyn N. Johnson1