# BIOPHYSICAL STUDIES OF VIRUS ASSEMBLY

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS · 1990 · $164,331

## Abstract

The detailed mechanism of assembly of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and other
viruses will be investigated by physical-chemical techniques.  Both
elementary step kinetics and equilibrium studies of TMV will continue in
order to provide data sufficiently detailed to be interpreted in terms of
the recently determined 2.9 Angstrom resolution structure of TMV.  Through
the use of various spectroscopic and hydrodynamic methods and optically
detected stopped-flow and temperature-jump relaxation kinetics, as well as
time-resolved low angle x-ray solution scattering, the mechanism of TMV
assembly proposed previously by researchers at Cambridge, England and
Strasbourg, France is being tested.  Certain central aspects of the
proposed mechanism appear to be inconsistent with experiment whereas some
features are correct.  Additional tests of this and an alternate mechanism
will be performed.  We seek to inquire into questions of the general
kinetic principles governing virus assembly, the chemical and structural
basis for coat protein recognition of RNA, the mechanism of viral
disassembly and the coordinated regulation of virus synthesis and virus
assembly.  We are also interested in the dynamics of extended subunit
systems and will continue to develop methods and kinetic analyses that may
reveal general principles of their functionally important behavior.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3124975
- **Project number:** 5R01AI011573-17
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS
- **SAM.gov UEI:** WNTPS995QBM7
- **Principal Investigator:** TODD M. SCHUSTER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1990
- **Award amount:** $164,331
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1977-12-01 → 1991-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3124975

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3124975, BIOPHYSICAL STUDIES OF VIRUS ASSEMBLY (5R01AI011573-17). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3124975. Licensed CC0.

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