A general computational design strategy for stabilizing viral class I fusion proteins.

ABSTRACT: Many pathogenic viruses, including influenza virus, Ebola virus, coronaviruses, and Pneumoviruses, rely on class I fusion proteins to fuse viral and cellular membranes. To drive the fusion process, class I fusion proteins undergo an irreversible conformational change from a metastable prefusion state to an energetically more favorable and stable postfusion state. An increasing amount of evidence exists highlighting that antibodies targeting the prefusion conformation are the most potent. However, many mutations have to be evaluated before identifying prefusion-stabilizing substitutions. We therefore established a computational design protocol that stabilizes the prefusion state while destabilizing the postfusion conformation. As a proof of concept, we applied this principle to the fusion p

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10055117 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature