Author Interviews, Nature, Zika / 14.04.2017
Potential Drug-Binding Site Against Zika Virus Identified
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jikui Song PhD
Assistant professor of biochemistry
University of California, Riverside.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) has become a wordwide health concern. However, no vaccines or antiviral drugs against ZIKV are currently available. To explore potential druggable sites for ZIKV, we set out to determine the crystal structure of full-length ZIKV NS5, the molecular machinery responsible for the genomic replication of ZIKV.
The major findings of our study include the identification of a conserved domain conformation within flavivirus NS5 family, which may be important for functional regulation of flavivirus NS5. Furthermore, our structural analysis revealed a potential drug-binding site of ZIKV NS5, providing basis for future development of novel antivirals against ZIKV.
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