Positive selection analyses identify a single WWE domain residue that shapes ZAP into a more potent restriction factor against alphaviruses.

ABSTRACT: The host interferon pathway upregulates intrinsic restriction factors in response to viral infection. Many of them block a diverse range of viruses, suggesting that their antiviral functions might have been shaped by multiple viral families during evolution. Host-virus conflicts have led to the rapid adaptation of host and viral proteins at their interaction hotspots. Hence, we can use evolutionary genetic analyses to elucidate antiviral mechanisms and domain functions of restriction factors. Zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is a restriction factor against RNA viruses such as alphaviruses, in addition to other RNA, retro-, and DNA viruses, yet its precise antiviral mechanism is not fully characterized. Previously, an analysis of 13 primate ZAP orthologs identified three positively selec

SUBMITTER: Huang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11361444 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature