José Ruiz Castón

Group de "Laboratory of viral molecular machines"  

     Centro Nacional de Biotecnología

     Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

     C/ Darwin, 3

     Campus de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

     28049 Madrid, España

     Telf.: +34 915854971

     e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Group de "Laboratory of viral molecular machines:

Our studies address to elucidate structure-function-evolution relationships of viral macromolecular complexes, which control many fundamental processes in virus life cycle. Our model systems of viral molecular machines are the viral capsid and other viral macromolecular complexes, such as helical tubular structures and ribonucleoprotein complexes. We are investigating several viral systems with different levels of complexity: double-stranded (ds)RNA viruses such as infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), Penicillium chrysogenum virus (PcV) and human picobirnavirus (HPBV), and single-stranded RNA viruses as human rhinovirus 2 (HRV2) and rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). To reveal the three-dimensional structure of such complex assemblies we use hybrid methods that combine cryo-electron microscopy and image processing techniques with high-resolution X-ray structures.Recently, we have solved several capsid structures at atomic resolution directly from cryo-images.

Relevant publications in the last five years:

- D. Luque, J.R. Castón; "Cryo-electron microscopy for the study of virus assembly"; Nature Chemical Biology 2020, 16, 231.

- M.V. de Ruiter, R. Klem, D. Luque, J.J.L.M. Cornelissen, J.R. Castón; "Structural nanotechnology: three-dimensional cryo-EM and its use in the development of nanoplatforms for in vitro catalysis" Nanoscale 2019, 11, 4130.

- C.P. Mata, J. Mertens, J. Fontana, D. Luque, C. Allende-Ballestero, D. Reguera, B.L. Trus, A.C. Steven, J.L. Carrascosa, J.R. Castón; "The RNA-binding protein of a double-stranded RNA virus acts like a scaffold protein"; J. Virol. 2018, 92, e00968.

- C.P. Mata, D. Luque, J. Gómez-Blanco, J.M. Rodríguez, J.M. González, N. Suzuki, S.A. Ghabrial, J.L. Carrascosa, B.L. Trus, J.R. Castón; "Acquisition of functions on the outer capsid surface during evolution of double-stranded RNA fungal viruses"; PLOS Pathog. 2017, 13, e1006755.

- R.M. Putri, C. Allende-Ballestero, D. Luque, R. Klem, K.-A. Rousou, A. Liu, C. H.-H. Traulsen, W.F. Rurup, M.S.T. Koay, J.R. Castón, J.J.L.M. Cornelissen; "Structural characterization of native and modified encapsulins as nanoplatforms for in vitro catalysis and cellular uptake"; ACS Nano 2017, 11, 12796.