Virus structure revealed
4 Oct 2010 by Evoluted New Media
After 12 years of research and several failed attempts, scientists have revealed the structure of a human adenovirus, a move which may lead to more effective gene therapy and new anti-viral drugs.
After 12 years of research and several failed attempts, scientists have revealed the structure of a human adenovirus, a move which may lead to more effective gene therapy and new anti-viral drugs.
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Crystal structure of human adenovirus Credit: Reddy and Nemerow labs, The Scripps Research Institute |
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute used a range of different techniques to obtain crystals of the adenovirus – a process which took several years of experimenting under different conditions – before attempting to study their structure with x-ray crystallography.
“We learned a number of important things about the virus from the structure including how key contacts are involved it its assembly,” said Professor Glen Nemerow, study leader, “That’s very important if you want to reengineer the virus for gene therapy.”
The adenovirus – one of a major class of disease-causing agents that include viruses that cause the common cold – is the largest viral structure solved by x-ray crystallography to date.
“The adenovirus is 150 megadaltons, which contains roughly 1 million amino acids – twice as big as PRD1, previously that largest virus ever solved to atomic resolution,” said Professor Vijay Reddy, who also led the study.
The data was collected from about 100 crystals – which equated to nearly 20 million reflections – and was pieced together by Reddy. The resulting image of the virus comprises the majority of the adenovirus; certain portions resisted placement, possibly because these regions are dynamic and too hard to assign.
The structure provides information on where the weak links in the viral assembly are, as well as where its strength lies and Nemerow hopes it might be possible to use this information to develop drugs and to develop modified adenoviruses for gene therapy.
“The virus has to be able to survive in the environment, but also has to disassemble when it enters the cell,” he said, “So the structure revealed places in the virus that are loosely bound so they can come apart on cells entry.”
The team plans to focus on better understanding the unknown portions of the virus and on comparison of different types of adenovirus structures.
