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Inside Cover: Stability and Shape of Hepatitis B Virus Capsids In Vacuo (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 33/2008)
Author(s) -
Uetrecht Charlotte,
Versluis Cees,
Watts Norman R.,
Wingfield Paul T.,
Steven Alasdair C.,
Heck Albert J. R.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200890161
Subject(s) - capsid , icosahedral symmetry , cover (algebra) , chemistry , characterization (materials science) , hepatitis a virus , macromolecule , crystallography , virus , materials science , virology , nanotechnology , biology , biochemistry , mechanical engineering , engineering
Precise biophysical characterization of macromolecular complexes is possible by mass spectrometry. Heck et al. report in their Communication on page 6247 ff. how two distinct icosahedral geometries of intact megaDalton capsids of the hepatitis B virus (a major human pathogen) can be measured and separated by mass spectrometry. Ion mobility measurements established that the viral structures are largely preserved in vacuo and two distinct conformers per capsid geometry could be distinguished.