Dynamic Viral Glycoprotein Machines: Approaches for Probing Transient States That Drive Membrane Fusion.

ABSTRACT: The fusion glycoproteins that decorate the surface of enveloped viruses undergo dramatic conformational changes in the course of engaging with target cells through receptor interactions and during cell entry. These refolding events ultimately drive the fusion of viral and cellular membranes leading to delivery of the genetic cargo. While well-established methods for structure determination such as X-ray crystallography have provided detailed structures of fusion proteins in the pre- and post-fusion fusion states, to understand mechanistically how these fusion glycoproteins perform their structural calisthenics and drive membrane fusion requires new analytical approaches that enable dynamic intermediate states to be probed. Methods including structural mass spectrometry, small-angle X-ray s

SUBMITTER: Garcia NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4728575 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature