MNV Capsid protein

Murine norovirus (MNV) is a species of norovirus affecting mice. It was first identified in 2003. MNV is commonly used in research to model Human norovirus because the latter is difficult to grow in the laboratory. Structural studies have shown that the virion capsid (VP1) of has a T=3 icosahedral symmetry. The capsid comprises of 180 VP1 copies, which are structured in three quasiequivalent subunits that fold into A/B and C/C dimers. VP1 can be divided into two domains, termed shell (S) and protruding (P) domain. The S domain forms the inner core and surrounds the viral RNA. The P domain forms protruding spikes and contains the main determinants for host binding factors.