The Cryo-Em Reconstruction Of Drosophila C Virus (Dcv) At 5.4 Angstrom

The Dicistroviridae family, which is currently classified under the Picornavirales order, groups a pool of arthropod-infecting viruses with bicistronic genomes. The interest in this family of viruses has been fueled due to the economical implications of their hosts, which range from beneficial arthropods (bees and shrimps) to insect pests (crickets, ants and triatomines). Two crystallographic structures of dicistroviruses have been reported to date: Cricket Paralysis Virus (CrPV, type species of the Cripavirus genus) and Triatoma Virus (TrV). their structures revealed that dicistroviruses share a core archetypal organization, which is complemented by external and internal capsid-wide differences that likely have arisen from unique host adaptation. In this work we report the cryoEM reconstruction at 5.4 A resolution, and C-alpha trace of Drosophila C Virus (DCV), a viral pathogen that infects Drosophila melanogaster, among other Drosophila species. This virus holds a 65.8% sequence identity with CrPV and, given the ability of the latter to replicate in Drosophila hosts, a detailed comparison can give insight into the infective cycle of dicistroviruses.Keywords: cryoEM, reconstruction, dicistroviridae, DCV