A virus-encoded potassium ion channel is a structural protein in the chlorovirus Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 virion.

ABSTRACT: Most chloroviruses encode small K(+) channels, which are functional in electrophysiological assays. The experimental finding that initial steps in viral infection exhibit the same sensitivity to channel inhibitors as the viral K(+) channels has led to the hypothesis that the channels are structural proteins located in the internal membrane of the virus particles. This hypothesis was questioned recently because proteomic studies failed to detect the channel protein in virions of the prototype chlorovirus Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 (PBCV-1). Here, we used a mAb raised against the functional K(+) channel from chlorovirus MA-1D to search for the viral K(+) channel in the virus particle. The results showed that the antibody was specific and bound to the tetrameric channel on the extr

SUBMITTER: Romani G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4093784 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature