pdl2r@davinci.acc.Virginia.EDU (Peter D. Lauren) (09/15/89)
************************* * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT * * * * * ************************* ************************************************* * * * 3-Dimensional Virus Reconstruction * * * ************************************************* A modular software system for the 3-dimensional and tomographic reconstruction of icosohedral virions is now available at the Image Processing Center of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This facility is available at no more than three locations in the United States. Our system was developed in conjunction with the laboratory of Professor Jay Brown of the department of Microbiology. It combines software developed at the European Molecular Biology Laboratories in Heidelberg (FRG), software developed at Purdue University in Indiana and software developed at Brandeis University in Massachusetts with software developed in our own laboratory. It has been used successfully to reconstruct light Equine Herpes Virus and is currently being used by Professor Brown's laboratory to reconstruct Adenovirus. The system takes transmission electron micrographs of icosohedral particles (principally virions).The quality of the reconstruction is roughly proportional to the number of such projections which are used. The projections should be of icosohedral particles which may be considered to be identical in structure but of varying orientation relative to the field of view. A transmission electron micrograph of a field of icosohedral virions would be ideal. The system enables the user to determine the orientation and origin of each projection. From such projections the user may obtain: 1. Surface reconstructions of the exterior and interior of the particle. 2. Serial tomographic sections through the particle. The resolution of these tomographs in any direction is limited only by the resolution of the original projections (eg electron micrographs). 3. Surface reconstructions of internal structures of the particle (or virion) by computationally "stripping away" the outer layers. For further information please contact Peter Lauren pdl2r@davinci.acc.virginia.edu (804)924.0438