Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
FEBS Lett. 2010 Jul 2;584(13):2786-90. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2010.05.006. Epub 2010 May 20.
Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract disease in infants. The HRSV small hydrophobic (SH) protein plays an important role in HRSV pathogenesis, although its mode of action is unclear. Analysis of the ability of SH protein to induce membrane permeability and form homo-oligomers suggests it acts as a viroporin. For the first time, we directly observed functional SH protein using electron microscopy, which revealed SH forms multimeric ring-like objects with a prominent central stained region. Based on current and existing functional data, we propose this region represents the channel that mediates membrane permeability.
人呼吸道合胞病毒（HRSV）是导致婴儿下呼吸道疾病的主要原因。HRSV 的小疏水（SH）蛋白在 HRSV 发病机制中起着重要作用，尽管其作用方式尚不清楚。分析 SH 蛋白诱导膜通透性和形成同源寡聚体的能力表明，它作为一种病毒孔蛋白发挥作用。我们首次使用电子显微镜直接观察到功能性 SH 蛋白，结果表明 SH 形成具有明显中央染色区域的多聚体环状物体。基于当前和现有的功能数据，我们提出该区域代表介导膜通透性的通道。
