Visualization of alpha-helices in a 6-angstrom resolution cryoelectron microscopy structure of adenovirus allows refinement of capsid protein assignments.

The structure of adenovirus was determined to a resolution of 6 A by cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM) single-particle image reconstruction. Docking of the hexon and penton base crystal structures into the cryoEM density established that alpha-helices of 10 or more residues are resolved as rods. A difference map was calculated by subtracting a pseudoatomic capsid from the cryoEM reconstruction. The resulting density was analyzed in terms of observed alpha-helices and secondary structure predictions for the additional capsid proteins that currently lack atomic resolution structures (proteins IIIa, VI, VIII, and IX). Protein IIIa, which is predicted to be highly alpha-helical, is assigned to a cluster of helices observed below the penton base on the inner capsid surface. Protein VI is present in approximately 1.5 copies per hexon trimer and is predicted to have two long alpha-helices, one of which appears to lie inside the hexon cavity. Protein VIII is cleaved by the adenovirus protease into two fragments of 7.6 and 12.1 kDa, and the larger fragment is predicted to have one long alpha-helix, in agreement with the observed density for protein VIII on the inner capsid surface. Protein IX is predicted to have one long alpha-helix, which also has a strongly indicated propensity for coiled-coil formation. A region of density near the facet edge is now resolved as a four-helix bundle and is assigned to four copies of the C-terminal alpha-helix from protein IX.