The Structure and Function of Triocornaviruses

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Dr. Johnson is studying particle structure, stability, and assembly in a family of viruses called the tricornaviruses. The method of analysis will be primarily X-ray crystallography, although a variety of biochemical methods will be employed to produce samples that are suitable for crystallization. Collaborations with experts in molecular genetics and spectroscopy will be undertaken to fully exploit the crystallographic technique and experiments. The overall goal will be to use these structures to attempt to design biophysical, biochemical and molecular genetic experiments that address function. Investigations have shown that viruses infecting plants, insects and mammals share common structural and functional themes although there are remarkable and unexpected differences between viruses infecting the same host. Understanding viral structures and their relationships to function will enable one to relate viruses to each other and to their hosts in terms of structural and physical properties at the molecular level.***