Three-Dimensional Visualization of Herpesvirus Envelopment at High Resolution Using STEM Tomography and Serial Sectioning on High Pressure Frozen/Freeze-Substituted Cells

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a clinically highly relevant Herpesvirus. Lacking a suitable animal model, HCMV’s strict species specificity is a major obstacle for the characterization of biological and pathogenic viral phenotypes. Electron microscopy is a suitable tool to characterize viral phenotypes, unraveling viral morphogenesis. We used advanced EM technologies to visualize the HCMV final envelopment processes in the viral assembly complex. Three-dimensional visualization using STEM tomography and serial sectioning was used to study HCMV final envelopment at high resolution.