Bluetongue virus: the role of synchrotron radiation

The determination of the structure of the transcriptionally active core particle of bluetongue virus is discussed. This particle is approximately 700 A in diameter and reasonably well ordered, but fragile, crystals have been obtained from two different serotypes of the virus. Cryocrystallography proved difficult and a large number of crystals were analysed at room temperature to accumulate a reasonably complete data set. The effects of synchrotron optics, station design and detector on the signal-to-noise for these weak data are discussed, with particular reference to station ID2 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Once the data had been gathered, structure determination was straightforward, using a model derived from a combination of electron microscopy and protein crystallography to obtain initial phases. Despite apparent isomorphism, it is suspected that the crystal lattice `ages', perhaps reflecting both the inevitable weakness of the forces holding crystals of such a large macromolecular complex together and flexibility in the particle.