Structural conservation of HBV-like capsid proteins over hundreds of millions of years despite the shift from non-enveloped to enveloped life-style

Abstract

Nackednaviruses and hepatitis B virus (HBV) have a common non-enveloped viral ancestor. While HBV acquired an envelope during evolution, nackednaviruses remained non-enveloped. Here, Pfister et al. apply CryoEM and NMR to characterize the capsid structure of African cichlid nackednavirus (ACNDV) at pH 5.5 and pH 7.5 and show that the capsid structure is very similar to that of HBV.