ISTOCK, ubrxOne mutation in the Zika virus is responsible for catastrophic consequences in its hosts. A sequence change resulting in one amino acid substitution can convert an ancestral Zika strain that causes only mild microcephaly into one that causes severe fetal microcephaly in mouse embryos, according to a study published today (September 27) in Science.
“It was not clear previously how Zika virus evolved from a relatively benign virus to a virulent pathogen. This work provided new insight into this question,” Pingwei Li, who studies innate immunity and structural biology at Texas A&M University, writes in an email to The Scientist.
“I like this study quite a bit,” says Alysson Muotri, whose lab at the University of California, San Diego, had previously shown that the Brazilian strain of Zika can cause birth defects in mouse embryos and human brain organoids. “This is the first use of forward and reverse genetics to demonstrate that a specific point mutation in the Zika virus genome can lead to dramatic brain defects in vivo.”
A type of flavivirus, Zika was relatively rare and known ...
