Electron Microscopy of Tubular Assemblies Associated with Naturally Occurring Bovine Rotavirus

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Abstract
Three types of regularly constructed assembly were observed by EM of rotavirus-containing feces from naturally infected cattle. Two of the structures, designated rotatube 1 an rotatube 2, respectively, are tubular in nature, and the 3rd, designated rotatube 3, takes the form of large relatively disorganized sheets of material exhibiting, in some areas, tubular characteristics. Rotatube 1 is a wide tube of .apprx. 80 nm diameter, the wall of which is composed of a surface lattice of hexagonally arranged subunits. Rotatube 2 is a narrow tube, half the diameter of the wide tube, and does not exhibit a strict hexagonal surface lattice. The sheets of rotatube 3 material are composed of subunits arranged on an hexagonal lattice identical with that of rotatube 1. The dimensions and general structural characteristics of the 3 types of assembly indicate that they are composed of rotavirus capsid protein.