Representation of the surface of Zika virus based on cryo-elecron microscopy structure.KUHN, ROSSMANN RESEARCH GROUPS, PURDUE UNIVERSITYAs concerns over the spread of Zika virus through the Americas rise, and evidence showing that the virus can infect developing neurons accumulates, a team led by researchers at Purdue University has now described the first high-resolution structure of the mosquito-borne flavivirus. Their work highlights a glycosylation site surrounding a unique stretch of 10 amino acids within Zika’s envelope protein, which differs from those of related flaviviruses dengue and West Nile. The team’s results were published today (March 31) in Science.
The mature Zika virion consists of an RNA genome enclosed in a casing of 180 repeated units of an envelope glycoprotein and membrane protein layer on top of a lipid membrane. Using cryo-electron microscopy, Purdue’s Michael Rossmann, Richard Kuhn, and colleagues produced a 3.8 angstrom (Å) resolution map of Zika. This enabled the researchers to determine the amino acid side chains of the two proteins that make up the virion’s shell.
“That the team was able to attain a high resolution structure for a virus of this size and complexity is really beautiful,” said Eddy Arnold, a biochemist at Rutgers University who was not involved with the work. “It is difficult to crystallize an enveloped virus that has a lipid membrane.”
“Remarkably, there are some ...
