Herpes virus assembly mechanism reveals

Recently, "Science" magazine published research papers on the mechanism of herpes virus assembly, such as Rao Zihe's academician Wang Xiangxi's researcher, etc., in the form of research papers. This work laid the foundation for the further study of the assembly of the viral nucleocapsid and envelope protein and the antiviral therapy for herpesvirus. At the same time, it can be designed as an oncolytic virus based on the structure and provides a broad range of therapeutics for tumors. Application prospects.

It is understood that the herpes virus is a large class of double-stranded DNA viruses that spreads worldwide and contains a large number of viruses that can infect a variety of mammals, including humans. According to data from the World Health Organization in January 2017, about 4.2 billion people under the age of 50 (about 80%) are infected with herpes simplex virus worldwide.

The herpes virus is about 200 nm in diameter and contains a four-layer structure with a surface capsule, a protein intermediate layer, a nucleocapsid particle, and a DNA core. Among them, the nucleocapsid has a diameter of about 125 nm and plays a very important role in virus replication, assembly, maturation and infection.

According to reports, the nucleocapsid contains A, B, and C. The three types of nucleocapsids are all non-standard icosahedrons. The interior of the type A nucleocapsid is empty and does not contain other proteins and virus genomes; the type B nucleocapsid contains the scaffold protein inside; the type C nucleocapsid contains the viral genome inside and can gradually mature and become mature with invasive proliferative activity. virus. In the past 20 years, many scientists in the world have tried to analyze the three-dimensional structure of herpesvirus nucleocapsids using cryo-electron microscopy. However, due to the large particle size, the ice layer is too thick, the signal-to-noise ratio is reduced, and the Ewald ball effect is reduced. Progress in this area is slow.

Rao Zihe's work reported for the first time the atomic resolution structure of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 herpes simplex virus nucleocapsid 3.1, elucidated the complex interactions and detailed structural information of the nucleocapsid protein, and proposed Herpesvirus nucleocapsid assembly mechanism. This work was commented by industry experts as "the pinnacle of viral structure research, and even in a sense broke through the limits of traditional cryo-electron microscope research." (Reporter Cao Xiuying)