19 research outputs found

    A single nanobody neutralizes multiple epochally evolving human noroviruses by modulating capsid plasticity

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    Acute gastroenteritis caused by human noroviruses (HuNoVs) is a significant global health and economic burden and is without licensed vaccines or antiviral drugs. The GII.4 HuNoV causes most epidemics worldwide. This virus undergoes epochal evolution with periodic emergence of variants with new antigenic profiles and altered specificity for histo-blood group antigens (HBGA), the determinants of cell attachment and susceptibility, hampering the development of immunotherapeutics. Here, we show that a llama-derived nanobody M4 neutralizes multiple GII.4 variants with high potency in human intestinal enteroids. The crystal structure of M4 complexed with the protruding domain of the GII.4 capsid protein VP1 revealed a conserved epitope, away from the HBGA binding site, fully accessible only when VP1 transitions to a “raised” conformation in the capsid. Together with dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy of the GII.4 VLPs, our studies suggest a mechanism in which M4 accesses the epitope by altering the conformational dynamics of the capsid and triggering its disassembly to neutralize GII.4 infection.Instituto de VirologíaFil: Salmen, Wilhelm. Baylor College of Medicine. Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Estados UnidosFil: Hu, Liya. Baylor College of Medicine. Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Estados UnidosFil: Bok, Marina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología e Innovaciones Tecnologicas; ArgentinaFil: Bok, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Chaimongkol, Natthawan. National Institutes of Health. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Caliciviruses Section; Estados UnidosFil: Ettayebi, Khalil. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Estados UnidosFil: Sosnovtsev, Stanislav V. National Institutes of Health. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Caliciviruses Section; Estados UnidosFil: Soni, Kaundal. Baylor College of Medicine. Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Estados UnidosFil: Ayyar, B. Vijayalakshmi. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Estados UnidosFil: Shanker, Sreejesh. Baylor College of Medicine. Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Estados UnidosFil: Neill, Frederick H. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Estados UnidosFil: Sankaran, Banumathi. Berkeley Center for Structural Biology. Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Atmar, Robert L. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Estados UnidosFil: Atmar, Robert L. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Estes, Mary K. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Estados UnidosFil: Estes, Mary K. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Green, Kim Y. National Institutes of Health. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Caliciviruses Section; Estados UnidosFil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virologia e Innovaciones Tecnologicas (IVIT); ArgentinaFil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Prasad, B. V. Venkataram. Baylor College of Medicine. Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Estados UnidosFil: Prasad, B. V. Venkataram. Baylor College of Medicine. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Estados Unido

    Evolutionary and Functional Diversity of the 5' Untranslated Region of Enterovirus D68: Increased Activity of the Internal Ribosome Entry Site of Viral Strains during the 2010s

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    The 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of the RNA genomes of enteroviruses possesses an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that directs translation of the mRNA by binding to ribosomes. Infection with enterovirus D68 causes respiratory symptoms and is sometimes associated with neurological disorders. The number of reports of the viral infection and neurological disorders has increased in 2010s, although the reason behind this phenomenon remains unelucidated. In this study, we investigated the evolutionary and functional diversity of the 5′ UTR of recently circulating strains of the virus. Genomic sequences of 374 viral strains were acquired and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The IRES activity of the viruses was measured using a luciferase reporter assay. We found a highly conserved sequence in the 5′ UTR and also identified the location of variable sites in the predicted RNA secondary structure. IRES activities differed among the strains in some cell lines, including neuronal and respiratory cells, and were especially high in strains of a major lineage from the recent surge. The effect of mutations in the 5′ UTR should be studied further in the future for better understanding of viral pathogenesis

    Molecular Characterization of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus in the Philippines, 2012-2013

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    <div><p>Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is a major cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children worldwide. We performed molecular analysis of HRSV among infants and children with clinical diagnosis of severe pneumonia in four study sites in the Philippines, including Biliran, Leyte, Palawan, and Metro Manila from June 2012 to July 2013. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected and screened for HRSV using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Positive samples were tested by conventional PCR and sequenced for the second hypervariable region (2<sup>nd</sup> HVR) of the G gene. Among a total of 1,505 samples, 423 samples were positive for HRSV (28.1%), of which 305 (72.1%) and 118 (27.9%) were identified as HRSV-A and HRSV-B, respectively. Two genotypes of HRSV-A, NA1 and ON1, were identified during the study period. The novel ON1 genotype with a 72-nucleotide duplication in 2<sup>nd</sup> HVR of the G gene increased rapidly and finally became the predominant genotype in 2013 with an evolutionary rate higher than the NA1 genotype. Moreover, in the ON1 genotype, we found positive selection at amino acid position 274 (p<0.05) and massive O- and N-glycosylation in the 2<sup>nd</sup> HVR of the G gene. Among HRSV-B, BA9 was the predominant genotype circulating in the Philippines. However, two sporadic cases of GB2 genotype were found, which might share a common ancestor with other Asian strains. These findings suggest that HRSV is an important cause of severe acute respiratory infection among children in the Philippines and revealed the emergence and subsequent predominance of the ON1 genotype and the sporadic detection of the GB2 genotype. Both genotypes were detected for the first time in the Philippines.</p></div

    Deduced amino acids of representative HRSV-A G protein in 2012–2013.

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    <p>(A) Thirty-one representative unique NA1 amino acid sequences corresponding to position 212 to 301 of the 2<sup>nd</sup> HVR of G protein were aligned with the prototype NA1 strain, NG-016-04 (AB470478). (B) Fifty-two representative unique ON1 amino acid sequences corresponding to position 212 to 325 of the 2nd HVR of G protein were aligned with the prototype ON1 strain, ON67-1210A (JN257693). Gray shading for predicted N-linked sites, gray octagons for predicted O-linked sites, dots for identical residues, asterisks for stop codon positions, star for positive selection position, boxes for analogous sites/duplication sites, and parenthesis for number of identical strains are indicated.</p
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