Interdomain Flexibility of Chikungunya Virus nsP2 Helicase-Protease Differentially Influences Viral RNA Replication and Infectivity.

ABSTRACT: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus responsible for chikungunya fever. Nonstructural protein 2 (nsP2), a multifunctional protein essential for viral replication, has an N-terminal helicase region (nsP2h), which has both nucleotide triphosphatase and RNA triphosphatase activities, as well as a C-terminal cysteine protease region (nsP2p), which is responsible for nonstructural polyprotein processing. The two functional units are connected through a linker of 14 residues. Although crystal structures of the helicase and protease regions of CHIKV nsP2 have been solved separately, the conformational arrangement of the full-length nsP2 and the biological role of the linker remain elusive. Using the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) method, we demonstrated that the full-leng

SUBMITTER: Law YS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8094934 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature