This Meeting Review describes the proceedings and conclusions from the inaugural meeting of the Electron Microscopy Validation Task Force organized by the Unified Data Resource for 3DEM (http://www.emdatabank.org) and held at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ on September 28 and 29, 2010. At the workshop, a group of scientists involved in collecting electron microscopy data, using the data to determine three-dimensional electron microscopy (3DEM) density maps, and building molecular models into the maps explored how to assess maps, models, and other data that are deposited into the Electron Microscopy Data Bank and Protein Data Bank public data archives. The specific recommendations resulting from the workshop aim to increase the impact of 3DEM in biology and medicine.

Molecular self-assembly is a promising approach to the preparation of nanostructures. DNA, in particular, shows great potential to be a superb molecular system. Synthetic DNA molecules have been programmed to assemble into a wide range of nanostructures. It is generally believed that rigidities of DNA nanomotifs (tiles) are essential for programmable self-assembly of well defined nanostructures. Recently, we have shown that adequate conformational flexibility could be exploited for assembling 3D objects, including tetrahedra, dodecahedra, and buckyballs, out of DNA three-point star motifs. In the current study, we have integrated tensegrity principle into this concept to assemble well defined, complex nanostructures in both 2D and 3D. A symmetric five-point-star motif (tile) has been designed to assemble into icosahedra or large nanocages depending on the concentration and flexibility of the DNA tiles. In both cases, the DNA tiles exhibit significant flexibilities and undergo substantial conformational changes, either symmetrically bending out of the plane or asymmetrically bending in the plane. In contrast to the complicated natures of the assembled structures, the approach presented here is simple and only requires three different component DNA strands. These results demonstrate that conformational flexibility could be explored to generate complex DNA nanostructures. The basic concept might be further extended to other biomacromolecular systems, such as RNA and proteins.

Comparative analysis of capsid protein structures in the eukaryote-infecting herpesviruses ( Herpesviridae ) and the prokaryote-infecting tailed DNA bacteriophages ( Caudovirales ) revealed a characteristic fold that is restricted to these two virus lineages and is indicative of common ancestry. This fold not only serves as a major architectural element in capsid stability but also enables the conformational flexibility observed during viral assembly and maturation. On the basis of this and other emerging relationships, it seems increasingly likely that the very diverse collection of extant viruses may have arisen from a relatively small number of primordial progenitors.