Nature子刊：麻疹病毒血凝素结构被确定

生物谷

麻疹是一种病毒感染性疾病，目前，每年世界上大约有2000万人感染这种疾病。如今，研究人员鉴定出一种新的结构，有可能会预防麻疹病毒的感染，研究结果发表在11月在线出版的《自然—结构和分子生物学》（Nature-Structural Molecular biology）期刊上。

麻疹病毒血凝素（MVH）是在麻疹病毒表面上发现的一种蛋白质，Chris Garcia和同事确定出了MVH的结晶结构。MVH能识别宿主细胞表面特定的蛋白质受体，并与之结合，这种相互作用的过程是病毒进入宿主细胞所必需的。对MVH结构的认识将促进以结构为基础的药物设计，靶向预防麻疹感染。（科学时报）

原始出处:

Nature-Structural Molecular biology

Published online: 18 November 2007; | doi:10.1038/nsmb1342

Structure of the measles virus hemagglutinin

Leremy A Colf1, 2, Z Sean Juo1, 2 & K Christopher Garcia1

1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Departments of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Beckman Building B171, 279 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

2 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence should be addressed to K Christopher Garcia kcgarcia@stanford.edu

Measles virus is a highly pathogenic virus that infects roughly 20 million people per year. We report here the crystal structure of the measles virus hemagglutinin, the surface glycoprotein responsible for the binding of measles virus to its host cell receptors. Although the protein lacks neuraminidase activity, its structure resembles a 'dead' neuraminidase fold, presenting spatially distinct receptor-binding sites for its receptors CD46 and SLAM.

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