Reviewer
Vamseedhar Rayaprolu
  • Cryo-EM Microscopist 2, Oregon Health and Sciences University
Research fields
  • Biophysics
Alphavirus Purification Using Low-speed Spin Centrifugation
Chemical and sedimentation procedures are used to purify virus particles. While these approaches are successful for wild-type viruses, they are often not feasible for purifying mutant viruses with assembly defects. We combined two published methods (Atasheva et al., 2013; Moller-Tank et al., 2013), to generate a protocol that uses low-speed centrifugation to purify both wildtype and mutant enveloped virus particles at high yield with minimal handling steps. This protocol has successfully been used to purify alphavirus particles for imaging and structural studies (Wang et al., 2015; Ramsey et al., 2017).
Fluorometric Estimation of Viral Thermal Stability
Differential Scanning Fluorimetry (DSF) is a rapid, economical, and a straightforward technique for estimating the thermal stability of proteins. The principle involves the binding of a fluorescent dye to thermally exposed hydrophobic pockets of a protein. The dyes used in this technique are highly fluorescent in a non-polar environment and are quenched when exposed to aqueous solution. The change in fluorescence can be used to follow unfolding of proteins induced by temperature, pH, or chaotropic agents. The method is well characterized for monomeric proteins. Here, we extend the application to supramolecular protein and nucleo-protein complexes using virus particles as an example. SYPRO-orange™ dye is the dye of choice because it is matched for use with q-PCR instruments and the fluorescence response is stable across a wide range of pH and temperatures. Advantages of this technique over standard biophysical methods include the ability for high-throughput screening of biological and technical replicates and the high sensitivity.
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