PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Researchers capture structure of key part of deadly Nipah virus

2013-11-18
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Mika Ono
mikaono@scripps.edu
858-784-2052
Scripps Research Institute
Researchers capture structure of key part of deadly Nipah virus

What began as a summer internship project designed for an undergraduate student evolved into a one-year study of one of the deadliest, but little known viruses. Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have now solved the structure of a key protein in the Nipah virus, which could pave the way for the development of a much-needed antiviral drug.

"This structure shows how key pieces of the virus's machinery are oriented and tethered together," said TSRI Professor Erica Ollmann Saphire, senior author of the study. "This is part of a larger program to illuminate how these deadly viruses replicate."

The Nipah virus is an emerging pathogen found in Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Bangladesh and India. The first outbreak was in 1997, followed by yearly outbreaks since then, with increasing mortality rates.

Carried by the flying fruit bat, the virus causes only mild illness in pigs, dogs, cats, horses, goats and sheep, which also spread the disease. But in humans, lethality has ranged from an initial 40 percent to 70 and, in some cases, even 100 percent. There are no therapeutics for the virus and no vaccines for humans.

"It's the scariest virus you've never heard of," said Jessica Bruhn, a graduate student in TSRI Professor Erica Ollmann Saphire's lab, noting that the movie Contagion, a medical thriller that came out in 2011, is based on outbreaks of the Nipah virus.

Hot on the Trail

Bruhn, first author of the new study, which was published recently online ahead of print by the Journal of Virology, initially designed this study as a summer project in 2012 for Katherine Barnett, then an undergraduate student in the SINAPSE program and also a co-author of the paper.

Bruhn and Barnett helped launch the work cloning the genes and working on the data. Barnett left to attend graduate school at Harvard University and Bruhn and colleagues continued working on the project, focusing on the P protein, a key component of the viral replication complex, which is essential for the virus to replicate its RNA.

"If you can prevent the virus from making more RNA, then it can't replicate, which is a good strategy for developing antiviral medications," Bruhn said.

In X-ray crystallography, scientists manipulate a protein or some other molecule so that a crystal forms. This crystal is then placed in a beam of X-rays, which diffract when they strike the atoms in the crystal. Based on the pattern of diffraction, scientists can usually reconstruct the shape of the original molecule—but in this project, the challenge was interpreting the data.

Luckily, Bruhn attended a crystallography workshop in Chicago at the Argonne National Laboratory and there she met experts in the field and learned new techniques, such as ab-initio modeling, which leverages computational structure prediction. The team used a software pipeline called AMPLE developed by the Rutherford Appleton Lab and the University of Liverpool to generate models and finally determine the structure.

Echoes of Other Viruses

When the scientists solved the crystal structure of the P protein, they found that it forms a tetramer, with four proteins that join to form a single unit.

"It was surprising to us that this structure is so similar to those from measles and mumps viruses, even though they are only 5 to 26% identical in sequence," Bruhn said. "If two proteins have high sequence identity then you would expect that they would have similar 3D structures, but to see such similarity in proteins with such low identity was surprising."

She said this speaks to the importance of structural conservation over sequence conservation – meaning that regardless of whether a protein has an identical sequence of amino acids or not, the structure could still be similar, especially when that structure has the important function of replicating the virus's RNA genome.

The team is continuing to work on understanding the virus and why it is so deadly. Since the virus is a biosafety level 4 pathogen, TSRI researchers can only look at parts of it but not the entire virus, so the scientists are collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look at the role of this structure in infection. The scientists will also look into resolving discrepancies with lower-resolution data published by a group of French researchers positing the structure was a trimer, with three proteins.



INFORMATION:



In addition to Bruhn and Saphire, other authors of the study "Crystal structure of the Nipah virus phosphoprotein tetramerization domain" include Katherine Barnett and Zachary Bornholdt of TSRI, Jaclyn Bibby, Jens Thomas and Daniel Rigden of the University of Liverpool and Ronan Keegan of STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. For more information, see http://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2013/10/17/JVI.02294-13.short

This study was supported by NIH training grant T32 AI00760 to the TSRI Department of Immunology and Microbial Science and an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists to Bruhn. Saphire is supported by Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award from the Burroughs Welcome Fund.

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs about 3,000 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists—including three Nobel laureates—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see http://www.scripps.edu.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Novel study charts aggressive prostate cancer

2013-11-18
Novel study charts aggressive prostate cancer Study in the Journal Cell Cycle reveals new developments in prognosis LOS ANGELES (Nov. 18, 2013) – Many patients diagnosed with prostate cancer have indolent, slow-growing forms of the disease that are not life-threatening. ...

New research finds link between red cell distribution width levels and depression in heart patients

2013-11-18
New research finds link between red cell distribution width levels and depression in heart patients DALLAS – Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute have discovered a link between elevated red cell distribution width levels and ...

Long-term oral contraceptive users are twice as likely to have serious eye disease

2013-11-18
Long-term oral contraceptive users are twice as likely to have serious eye disease Research shows birth control use over three years could be a risk factor for glaucoma NEW ORLEANS – Nov. 18, 2013 – Research presented today, at the 117th Annual Meeting of the American ...

Faster surgery may be better for hip fractures: McMaster study

2013-11-18
Faster surgery may be better for hip fractures: McMaster study In many countries waits for hip surgery can be 24 hours or longer Hamilton, Nov. 18, 2013 – The speed of surgery after a hip fracture may have a significant impact on outcomes for older patients, ...

Program helps at-risk family members of patients with heart disease improve their own heart health

2013-11-18
Program helps at-risk family members of patients with heart disease improve their own heart health Randomized clinical trial Family members of patients with heart disease adopted healthier lifestyles and decreased their risk of a cardiovascular ...

Early surgery for hip fractures in older adults may improve outcomes

2013-11-18
Early surgery for hip fractures in older adults may improve outcomes Randomized controlled trial Early surgery for hip fractures in older people may substantially improve outcomes for patients, according to the results from a randomized controlled ...

Blood growth factor boosts effect of exercise in peripheral artery disease

2013-11-18
Blood growth factor boosts effect of exercise in peripheral artery disease A blood cell growth factor can boost the effects of exercise in improving mobility for patients with peripheral artery disease, a clinical study has shown. The results are scheduled for ...

Greater density of coronary artery calcium associated with lower risk of CHD, CVD

2013-11-18
Greater density of coronary artery calcium associated with lower risk of CHD, CVD Chicago – Michael H. Criqui, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues determined the independent associations of coronary artery calcium (CAC) volume and ...

Type of cell therapy does not improve walking ability for patients with peripheral artery disease

2013-11-18
Type of cell therapy does not improve walking ability for patients with peripheral artery disease Chicago – Joseph Poole, M.D., Ph.D., of the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and colleagues studied whether therapy with granulocyte-macrophage ...

Therapy using stem cells, bone marrow cells, appears safe for patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy

2013-11-18
Therapy using stem cells, bone marrow cells, appears safe for patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy Chicago – Alan W. Heldman, M.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues conducted a study to examine the safety of transendocardial ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

Healthy nutrition and physical lifestyle choices lower cancer mortality risk for survivors, new ACS study finds

[Press-News.org] Researchers capture structure of key part of deadly Nipah virus