Researchers found that icosahedral viruses deliberately break symmetry using a single chemical bond to control RNA release.

Determining the structure of a virus is an important step in understanding and treating viral disease. For decades, structural biologists have been using cryo-electron microscopy to create ...

Viruses are typically described as tiny, perfectly geometric shells that pack genetic material with mathematical precision, ...

The underlying design principles behind the structures of the outer protein shells of viruses have been revealed. The genetic material of viruses is encapsulated in a protein shell that is often ...

Many icosahedral viruses assemble proteinaceous precursors called proheads or procapsids. Proheads are metastable structures that undergo a profound structural transition known as expansion that ...

The mimivirus is the largest virus known to scientists, about half of a micrometre (0.0005 millimeter) in diameter. It is more than 10 times larger than the virus that causes the common cold and – ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - An international team of researchers has determined key structural features of the largest known virus, findings that could help scientists studying how the simplest life ...

Viruses share a common ancestor that existed over 3 billion years ago and may even have preceded cellular forms of life, according to a report in the May 3 PNAS by George Rice and colleagues at ...

Giant viruses are a part of a group of nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLVD) whose viral particle magnitude, structure, genome length, and complexity are larger than the standard virus family.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - An international team of researchers has determined key structural features of the largest known virus, findings that could help scientists studying how the simplest life ...