Journal of General Virology

Fig. 3. (a, b) BMV adsorbed onto a freshly cleaved mica substrate under buffer. Capsomeres are evident on the surfaces of free particles. (c) AFM of BMV crystals permits the visualization of capsid structure. Capsomeres and even depressions at their centres are evident, reflecting the toroidal clusters of coat protein subunits. (d) T=1 icosahedral particles of 17 to 18 nm diameter, derived after CaCl₂ treatment of native T=3 BMV, can be crystallized and visualized by AFM. Even on these very small particles, pentameric capsomeres derived from the native T=3 virus are recognizable on the T=1 surface.

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