Kielian Margaret, Chanel-Vos Chantal, Liao Maofu
Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Viruses. 2010 Mar 26;2(4):796-825. doi: 10.3390/v2040796.
The study of enveloped animal viruses has greatly advanced our understanding of the general properties of membrane fusion and of the specific pathways that viruses use to infect the host cell. The membrane fusion proteins of the alphaviruses and flaviviruses have many similarities in structure and function. As reviewed here, alphaviruses use receptor-mediated endocytic uptake and low pH-triggered membrane fusion to deliver their RNA genomes into the cytoplasm. Recent advances in understanding the biochemistry and structure of the alphavirus membrane fusion protein provide a clearer picture of this fusion reaction, including the protein's conformational changes during fusion and the identification of key domains. These insights into the alphavirus fusion mechanism suggest new areas for experimental investigation and potential inhibitor strategies for anti-viral therapy.
对包膜动物病毒的研究极大地增进了我们对膜融合的一般特性以及病毒用于感染宿主细胞的特定途径的理解。甲病毒和黄病毒的膜融合蛋白在结构和功能上有许多相似之处。如本文所述，甲病毒利用受体介导的内吞摄取和低pH触发的膜融合将其RNA基因组递送至细胞质中。在理解甲病毒膜融合蛋白的生物化学和结构方面的最新进展为这种融合反应提供了更清晰的图景，包括融合过程中该蛋白的构象变化以及关键结构域的鉴定。对甲病毒融合机制的这些见解为实验研究和抗病毒治疗的潜在抑制剂策略提出了新的领域。
