Structural insights into the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus 4a protein and its dsRNA binding mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has evolved to navigate through the sophisticated network of a host's immune system. The immune evasion mechanism including type 1 interferon and protein kinase R-mediated antiviral stress responses has been recently attributed to the involvement of MERS-CoV protein 4a (p4a) that masks the viral dsRNA. However, the structural mechanism of how p4a recognizes and establishes contacts with dsRNA is not well explained. In this study, we report a dynamic mechanism deployed by p4a to engage the viral dsRNA and make it unavailable to the host immune system. Multiple variants of p4a-dsRNA were created and investigated through extensive molecular dynamics procedures to highlight crucial interfacial residues that may be used as potential pharma

SUBMITTER: Batool M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5596018 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature