The Role of the Membrane in the Structure and Biophysical Robustness of the Dengue Virion Envelope.

ABSTRACT: The dengue virion is surrounded by an envelope of membrane proteins surrounding a lipid bilayer. We have combined the cryoelectron microscopy structures of the membrane proteins (PDB: 3J27) with a lipid bilayer whose composition is based on lipidomics data for insect cell membranes, to obtain a near-atomic resolution computational model of the envelope of the dengue virion. A coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation on the microsecond timescale enables analysis of key biophysical properties of the dengue outer envelope. Properties analyzed include area per lipid values (for a spherical virion with a mixed lipid composition), bilayer thickness, and lipid diffusion coefficients. Despite the absence of cholesterol from the lipid bilayer, the virion exhibits biophysical robustness (slow li

SUBMITTER: Reddy T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4780862 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature