Project Description

Streak disease of Banana (Musa sp.) is known to cause economic losses of 10-90% across several countries including India. The disease is caused by a member of the Caulimoviridae family of plant viruses, Banana streak virus (BSV). BSVs have a bacilliform morphology and 9 different species of BSVs have been reported so far. Banana streak OL virus (BSOLV) is one such species reported in India which has been sequenced. Negative stain electron microscopy studies revealed that the virions have a diameter of 30nm and length of 120nm. There is no detailed study on the structure of the virus. Recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM), have enabled researchers to solve near atomic resolution structure of virions as well as capsid proteins. This study aims at examining the structure of the BSOLV using cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) to understand the mechanism of infection of the virus. Additionally, subtomogram averaging will be used to obtain high resolution structure of the capsid proteins of BSOLV. The structures will be an important first step towards understanding the fundamental mechanism of action of these types of viruses.