Natalia Philipp, Guadalupe S Costa Navarro, Luana de Borba, Andrea V Gamarnik, Laura C Estrada
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Mosquito-borne flaviviruses, including dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV), constitute a significant and escalating public health threat. Elucidating the mechanisms by which these flaviviruses subvert cellular processes through viral protein-host cell interactions provides critical insights into their replication and pathogenicity. Here, we present an analysis based on anisotropy calculation across pixels in raster images to investigate differential protein interactions during nucleocytoplasmic shuttling. This methodology highlights regions of high and low anisotropy, suggesting differential protein-membrane interactions. Employing numerical simulations and confocal raster images, we use this method to investigate capsid (C) protein-host cell membrane interactions for dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV2) and ZIKV-transfected cells during C-protein nucleocytoplasmic shuttling. By 2D pair correlation analysis on infected cells, we demonstrated that the DENV2 C-protein exhibits a pronounced interaction with the host cell's nuclear membrane. Furthermore, we identified a differential localization of C-protein for these viruses in the host cell. These findings highlight the significance of comparative viral protein-host interaction mapping in deciphering pathogenic mechanisms, particularly when combined with in vivo models. Given that dengue and Zika are two of the most significant human viral infections transmitted by arthropods, a thorough understanding of viral protein dynamics is imperative for developing novel antiviral strategies.
期刊介绍:
BJ publishes original articles, letters, and perspectives on important problems in modern biophysics. The papers should be written so as to be of interest to a broad community of biophysicists. BJ welcomes experimental studies that employ quantitative physical approaches for the study of biological systems, including or spanning scales from molecule to whole organism. Experimental studies of a purely descriptive or phenomenological nature, with no theoretical or mechanistic underpinning, are not appropriate for publication in BJ. Theoretical studies should offer new insights into the understanding ofexperimental results or suggest new experimentally testable hypotheses. Articles reporting significant methodological or technological advances, which have potential to open new areas of biophysical investigation, are also suitable for publication in BJ. Papers describing improvements in accuracy or speed of existing methods or extra detail within methods described previously are not suitable for BJ.