荷兰乌特列支大学研究人员利用一种最新开发的喷洒技术，绘制出了乙型肝炎病毒的结构与组成图。该项研究成果发表在最新一期《美国科学院院刊》和《应用化学》期刊上，将使科学家更进一步地理解并对抗乙型肝炎传染。该研究方法也能用于分析恐怖分子可能使用的生化武器所含的病毒。
为更好地理解并对抗病毒感染，有必要在分子水平上仔细检查病毒。科学家可利用质谱仪技术来识别分子，这种技术也可用于法医调查中的涂料痕迹鉴定。质谱仪技术特别善于鉴别小分子，但病毒“太大”以致于无法使用标准的方法来完成此事。
为此，乌特列支大学研究人员夏洛特 优特雷希特别为该研究项目开发了一种可完好无损地喷洒病毒的改进型质谱仪技术。研究人员在高压电荷下将水和病毒一起喷洒，这种可将病毒和水分离的技术能使研究人员对病毒进行分别检查。整个喷洒过程类似于经由打喷嚏而形成的感冒病毒传播方式。
利用该改进型质谱仪技术，研究人员观察了乙型肝炎病毒的结构与组成。在分光计的辅助下，研究人员不仅看到了病毒的各种不同形状，还观察到了病毒的分子结构，这使得未来通过阻止病毒生产来对抗病毒感染成为可能。（绿谷生物网ibioo.com）
原始出处：
PNAS 2008 105:9216-9220; doi:10.1073/pnas.0800406105
High-resolution mass spectrometry of viral assemblies: Molecular composition and stability of dimorphic hepatitis B virus capsids
Charlotte Uetrecht*, Cees Versluis*, Norman R. Watts†, Wouter H. Roos‡, Gijs J. L. Wuite‡, Paul T. Wingfield†, Alasdair C. Steven§, and Albert J. R. Heck*,¶
+Author Affiliations
Edited by Fred W. McLafferty, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved April 25, 2008 (received for review January 15, 2008)
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major human pathogen. In addition to its importance in human health, there is growing interest in adapting HBV and other viruses for drug delivery and other nanotechnological applications. In both contexts, precise biophysical characterization of these large macromolecular particles is fundamental. HBV capsids are unusual in that they exhibit two distinct icosahedral geometries, nominally composed of 90 and 120 dimers with masses of ≈3 and ≈4 MDa, respectively. Here, a mass spectrometric approach was used to determine the masses of both capsids to within 0.1%. It follows that both lattices are complete, consisting of exactly 180 and 240 subunits. Nanoindentation experiments by atomic-force microscopy indicate that both capsids have similar stabilities. The data yielded a Young's modulus of ≈0.4 GPa. This experimental approach, anchored on very precise and accurate mass measurements, appears to hold considerable potential for elucidating the assembly of viruses and other macromolecular particles.
