兔出血症病毒NJ85株衣壳蛋白变异性分析及立体结构预测

用分子克隆技术从兔出血症病毒(RHDV)中国早期流行株NJ85中成功克隆出vp60基因,序列分析表明基因长度为1740nt,编码579aa。利用GenBank数据库,NJ85与WX84、TP二个RHDV中国毒株vp60基因DNA序列的同源性分别为92．7％和97．2％,氨基酸序列的同源性分别为96．1％和98．6％,与其他国家16个毒株的vp60基因DNA序列的同源性在83．7％-97．0％之间,氨基酸序列的同源性在90．5％～99．0％之间,具有高度的同源性。进一步分析vp60基因的六个分区,A、B、D、F四个区变异率较低,C、E二个区变异率较高。在遗传进化上,历年来的RHDV毒株在氨基酸水平上分析可分为三个支谱系,在核苷酸水平上趋向四个支谱系,谱系没有呈现地域或时间特征。三个中国毒株分布在二个不同的支谱系中。与RHDV同为兔病毒属的欧洲野兔综合征病毒(EBHSV)组成了另一个谱系。运用生物信息学方法分析了NJ85 VP60蛋白的分子量、等电点、疏水性和二级结构,根据同源模型预测分析了三级结构。NJ85 VP60的二级结构以B片层为主,三级结构稳定。病毒衣壳表面有32个杯状凹陷,由90个二聚体组成,二聚体由VP60单体以A／B5和C／C2两种方式构成,单体在二聚体中的构象有A、B、C三种形式。单体含有S、P两个结构域,两者通过柔性绞链连接,P结构域由VP60的C端部分形成,P分为P1和P2二个亚结构域,P2位于病毒衣壳表面,含有病毒株特异性抗原表位和红细胞结合位点。     

Morphogenesis of the hepatitis B virion and subviral particles in the liver of transgenic mice

Up to date, no ultrastructure showing the HBV budding site has ever been reported. In this study, the liver of transgenic mice expressing a high titer of HBV was processed for cryo-ultrathin section electron microscopy. This approach preserves membrane structures very well and thus allowed us to find HBV (Dane particles) and subviral particles (spherical and filamentous form) present separately inside the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Envelopment of single core particle by the ER was found near the Golgi region and mature Dane particles usually resided singularly in a 70–90 nm vesicle at the end of ER or near to mitochondria. Filamentous particles, either in an array or as a single filament inside various sizes of vesicles, were most frequently; these particles were found adjacent to the Golgi region or bile canaliculi. The formation of 22-nm spherical particles seems to occur inside the ER by a transition from preformed filaments to a structure similar to beads on a string. This study is the first report to demonstrate a serial process by which hepatitis B virion assembly takes place in the ER region and distinguishes two separate routes for the morphogenesis of virions and subviral particles.     

免出血症病毒的形态与结构的研究

免出血症病毒无锡株A_2R—3的完整病毒颗粒呈球形,廿面体等轴对称、无囊膜、其直径约为33—37nm。空心病毒粒子亦可看到,其核心直径为21—25nm。病毒衣壳包裹在颗粒的最外层,由紧密连结的子粒所组成,子粒排列规则,呈管状结构。其长度约为5—6nm,中心孔径为2—3nm。廿面体对称的等边三角形的面由6个子粒所构成,即每条边上排列3个子粒。据此推算出病毒衣壳的子粒总数为42,分负数为4,三角形面数为80,结构单位数为240。     

Crystal structure of the potato leafroll virus coat protein and implications for viral assembly

Luteoviruses, poleroviruses, and enamoviruses are insect-transmitted, agricultural pathogens that infect a wide array of plants, including staple food crops. Previous cryo-electron microscopy studies of virus-like particles show that luteovirid viral capsids are built from a structural coat protein that organizes with T = 3 icosahedral symmetry. Here, we present the crystal structure of a truncated version of the coat protein monomer from potato leafroll virus at 1.80-Å resolution. In the crystal lattice, monomers pack into flat sheets that preserve the two-fold and three-fold axes of icosahedral symmetry and show minimal structural deviations when compared to the full-length subunits of the assembled virus-like particle. These observations have important implications in viral assembly and maturation and suggest that the CP N-terminus and its interactions with RNA play an important role in generating capsid curvature.     

Rapid increase of near atomic resolution virus capsid structures determined by cryo-electron microscopy

The recent technological advances in electron microscopes, detectors, as well as image processing and reconstruction software have brought single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) into prominence for determining structures of bio-molecules at near atomic resolution. This has been particularly true for virus capsids, ribosomes, and other large assemblies, which have been the ideal specimens for structural studies by cryo-EM approaches. An analysis of time series metadata of virus structures on the methods of structure determination, resolution of the structures, and size of the virus particles revealed a rapid increase in the virus structures determined by cryo-EM at near atomic resolution since 2010. In addition, the data highlight the median resolution (～3.0?Å) and size (～310.0?Å in diameter) of the virus particles determined by X-ray crystallography while no such limits exist for cryo-EM structures, which have a median diameter of 508?Å. Notably, cryo-EM virus structures in the last four years have a median resolution of 3.9?Å. Taken together with minimal sample requirements, not needing diffraction quality crystals, and being able to achieve similar resolutions of the crystal structures makes cryo-EM the method of choice for current and future virus capsid structure determinations.     

Impaired infectivity of ritonavir-resistant HIV is rescued by heat shock protein 90AB1

Certain ritonavir resistance mutations impair HIV infectivity through incomplete Gag processing by the mutant viral protease. Analysis of the mutant virus phenotype indicates that accumulation of capsid-spacer peptide 1 precursor protein in virus particles impairs HIV infectivity and that the protease mutant virus is arrested during the early postentry stage of HIV infection before proviral DNA synthesis. However, activation of the target cell can rescue this defect, implying that specific host factors expressed in activated cells can compensate for the defect in ritonavir-resistant HIV. This ability to rescue impaired HIV replication presented a unique opportunity to identify host factors involved in postentry HIV replication, and we designed a functional genetic screen so that expression of a given host factor extracted from activated T cells would lead directly to its discovery by rescuing mutant virus replication in nonactivated T cells. We identified the cellular heat shock protein 90 kDa α (cytosolic), class B member 1 (HSP90AB1) as a host factor that can rescue impaired replication of ritonavir-resistant HIV. Moreover, we show that pharmacologic inhibition of HSP90AB1 with 17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (tanespimycin) has potent in vitro anti-HIV activity and that ritonavir-resistant HIV is hypersensitive to the drug. These results suggest a possible role for HSP90AB1 in postentry HIV replication and may provide an attractive target for therapeutic intervention.     

Characterization of a phage specific to hemorrhagicEscherichia coli O157:H7 and disclosure of variations in host outer membrane protein OmpC

Phage AR1, previously known to infectEscherichia coli O157:H7 with high specificity, was further characterized for its genetic properties. The phage DNA sequences including capsid genes and a putative -glucosyltransferase gene(-gt) have been deduced. These sequences are conservative but not identical to those of T4 phage. However, a nonessential gene,SegD, organized within the capsid gene cluster of T4 is missing in the corresponding region of AR1 genome, and this characteristic has not been observed among T-even related phages. The difference between AR1 and T4 was further exemplified by their distinct host ranges. Strains ofE. coli O157:H7 collected from different sources were permissive to AR1 but resistant to T4 that normally infects K-12 strains ofE. coli through contact with the outer membrane protein OmpC. Thus, the O157:H7 strains must have a varied OmpC. Indeed, the OmpC sequence of O157:H7 strains was proved to differ from that of K-12 strains by a total of 15 amino acid substitutions and two gaps (a five-residue deletion and a four-residue insertion). The OmpC molecules are relatively conserved across the gram-negative bacteria, and this is the first time OmpC divergence has been found within the sameE. coli species. Since OmpC is located in the outer membrane and its expression is regulated by environmental conditions, alteration of the structure in pathogenic O157:H7 strains may have biological significance.     

兔出血症病毒中国株衣壳蛋白基因的克隆和序列分析

应用RT-PCR技术,从兔出血症病毒中国分离株WX84中成功扩增出预期大小为1.7kb的特异性条带,将扩增产物提纯后克隆入pGEMR-T载体,经转化、筛选及酶切鉴定后,获得了该株病毒衣壳蛋白基因的克隆,序列分析表明扩增的中国株RHDV衣壳蛋白基因片段长度为1 740bp,共编码580个氨基酸.该核酸序列与其它国家报道的多株RHDV序列相互间同源性高达98.2%～99.0%,其推导的氨基酸序列同源性也达98.3%～99.1%,为极度保守片段.     

Optimization of a 1,5-dihydrobenzo[b][1,4]diazepine-2,4-dione series of HIV capsid assembly inhibitors 2: Structure–activity relationships (SAR) of the C3-phenyl moiety

Detailed structure–activity relationships of the C3-phenyl moiety that allow for the optimization of antiviral potency of a series of 1,5-dihydrobenzo[b][1,4]diazepine-2,4-dione inhibitors of HIV capsid (CA) assembly are described. Combination of favorable substitutions gave additive SAR and allowed for the identification of the most potent compound in the series, analog 27. Productive SAR also transferred to the benzotriazepine and spirobenzodiazepine scaffolds, providing a solution to the labile stereocenter at the C3 position. The molecular basis of how compound 27 inhibits mature CA assembly is rationalized using high-resolution structural information. Our understanding of how compound 27 may inhibit immature Gag assembly is also discussed.