Structural insight into the Zika virus capsid encapsulating the viral genome

• 来源期刊: 细胞研究（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2018,（4）
• 页码范围: 497-499
• 页数: 3页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Dear Editor, In 2015, a Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak began in South and Central America and in the Caribbean, and has since spread to both North America and Asia.1 It has been revealed that ZIKV is the primary cause of severe neurological pathologies, such as neonatal microcephaly and Guillain-Barr(e) syndrome.2 ZIKV infection can also damage mouse testes, posing a potential threat to the mammalian reproductive system.3 Similar to the dengue virus(DENV) and the West Nile virus (WNV), ZIKV is a mosquito-borne flavivirus containing a single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome, which encodes three structural proteins (C, prM/M, and E) and seven non-structural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5).2,4,5 The mature form of the flavivirus C protein is ～12kDa, and it plays a critical role in encapsulation of the RNA genome.2 In addition, the C protein interacts with intracellular lipid droplets for viral particle formation2 and inhibits host RNA silencing to suppress the immune response.6 The multiple functions of the flavivirus C protein in the viral life cycle make it an attractive target for drug development.