Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth Sciences, University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Mar 26;22(7):3408. doi: 10.3390/ijms22073408.
The conformational variation of the viral capsid structure plays an essential role both for the environmental resistance and acid nuclear release during cellular infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate how capsid rearrangement in engineered phages of M13 protects viral DNA and peptide bonds from damage induced by UV-C radiation. From in silico 3D modelling analysis, two M13 engineered phage clones, namely P9b and 12III1, were chosen for (i) chemical features of amino acids sequences, (ii) rearrangements in the secondary structure of their pVIII proteins and (iii) in turn the interactions involved in phage capsid. Then, their resistance to UV-C radiation and hydrogen peroxide (HO) was compared to M13 wild-type vector (pC89) without peptide insert. Results showed that both the phage clones acquired an advantage against direct radiation damage, due to a reorganization of interactions in the capsid for an increase of H-bond and steric interactions. However, only P9b had an increase in resistance against HO. These results could help to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the stability of new virus variants, also providing quick and necessary information to develop effective protocols in the virus inactivation for human activities, such as safety foods and animal-derived materials.
病毒衣壳结构的构象变化在环境抗性和细胞感染过程中的核内酸释放中起着至关重要的作用。本研究旨在评估工程化 M13 噬菌体中的衣壳重排如何保护病毒 DNA 和肽键免受 UV-C 辐射诱导的损伤。通过计算机 3D 建模分析，选择了两种工程化 M13 噬菌体克隆，即 P9b 和 12III1，用于（i）氨基酸序列的化学特征，（ii）它们的 pVIII 蛋白二级结构的重排，以及（iii）噬菌体衣壳涉及的相互作用。然后，将它们对 UV-C 辐射和过氧化氢（HO）的抗性与没有肽插入的 M13 野生型载体（pC89）进行了比较。结果表明，由于衣壳中相互作用的重组增加了氢键和空间相互作用，两种噬菌体克隆都获得了对直接辐射损伤的优势。然而，只有 P9b 对 HO 的抗性增加。这些结果有助于理解新病毒变体稳定性涉及的分子机制，同时为开发人类活动中病毒灭活的有效方案提供快速和必要的信息，例如安全食品和动物源性材料。
