Cryo-EM reconstruction of the Cafeteria roenbergensis virus capsid suggests novel assembly pathway for giant viruses.

Whereas the protein composition and overall shape of several giant virus capsids have been described, the mechanism by which these large capsids assemble remains enigmatic. Here, we present a reconstruction of the capsid of Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV), one of the largest viruses analyzed by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to date. The CroV capsid has a diameter of 3,000 Å and a Triangulation number of 499.