Capsid Components (IMAGE)

Rice University

Capsid Components

Caption

Rice University bioengineers have developed programmable adeno-associated viruses by modifying one of three proteins that assemble into a tough shell called a capsid. In this illustration, blue subunits in the capsid represent the protein VP3 and green subunits represent a truncated mutant of VP2. From top to bottom: a VP3-only capsid that does not display any peptides; a mosaic capsid with a majority of VP3 and small amount of the VP2 mutant that shows a low level of activable peptide display; a mosaic capsid with equal amounts of VP3 and VP2 mutant that shows a high level of activable peptide display; and a homomeric VP2 mutant capsid with a high level of constant, brush-like peptide display.

Credit

Nicole Thadani/Rice University

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