VIRUS PARTICLE EXPLORER (VIPER): A REPOSITORY OF VIRUS CAPSID STRUCTURES

Virus structures represent mega-molecular nucleoprotein complexes. The three dimensional structures of 74 unique virus capsids, from 21 families and 30 different genera, have been determined at near atomic resolution. We have devised a website and a database of high-resolution virus structures namely VIrus Particle ExploreR (VIPER: http://mmtsb.scripps.edu/viper/) as a repository of virus structures, where all the structures are stored in a single (standard) icosahedral convention. Each capsid is shown pictorially along with a list of the physical properties. Furthermore, the derived results of structural and computational analyses on each capsid are provided highlighting the inter-subunit residue-residue contacts, binding energies, quasi-equivalence and assembly pathways. The structural and analysis tools developed to analyze virus structures can be accessed through the VIPER web site. Efforts are ongoing to include cryo-EM reconstructions as well as the models fitted into these densities.