Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.
Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2010 May;17(5):530-8. doi: 10.1038/nsmb.1779. Epub 2010 Apr 11.
The world is currently undergoing a pandemic caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus, the so-called 'swine flu'. The H5N1 ('bird flu') influenza A viruses, now circulating in Asia, Africa and Europe, are extremely virulent in humans, although they have not so far acquired the ability to transfer efficiently from human to human. These health concerns have spurred considerable interest in understanding the molecular biology of influenza A viruses. Recent structural studies of influenza A virus proteins (or fragments) help enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the viral proteins and the effects of drug resistance to improve drug design. The structures of domains of the influenza RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and the nonstructural NS1A protein provide opportunities for targeting these proteins to inhibit viral replication.
目前,世界正遭受由 H1N1 甲型流感病毒引起的大流行,即所谓的“猪流感”。H5N1(“禽流感”)甲型流感病毒目前在亚洲、非洲和欧洲流行,对人类具有极强的毒性,尽管它们迄今尚未获得在人与人之间高效传播的能力。这些健康问题促使人们极大地关注于理解甲型流感病毒的分子生物学。最近对甲型流感病毒蛋白(或片段)的结构研究有助于加深我们对病毒蛋白的分子机制以及耐药性的影响的理解,从而改进药物设计。流感病毒 RNA 依赖性 RNA 聚合酶和非结构 NS1A 蛋白结构域的结构为靶向这些蛋白以抑制病毒复制提供了机会。