Deciphering the dark proteome of Chikungunya virus

Sci Rep. 2018 Apr 11;8(1):5822. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23969-0.

Abstract

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus. The outbreak of CHIKV infection has been seen in many tropical and subtropical regions of the biosphere. Current reports evidenced that after outbreaks in 2005-06, the fitness of this virus propagating in Aedes albopictus enhanced due to the epistatic mutational changes in its envelope protein. In our study, we evaluated the prevalence of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and IDP regions (IDPRs) in CHIKV proteome. IDPs/IDPRs are known as members of a 'Dark Proteome' that defined as a set of polypeptide segments or whole protein without unique three-dimensional structure within the cellular milieu but with significant biological functions, such as cell cycle regulation, control of signaling pathways, and maintenance of viral proteomes. However, the intrinsically disordered aspects of CHIKV proteome and roles of IDPs/IDPRs in the pathogenic mechanism of this important virus have not been evaluated as of yet. There are no existing reports on the analysis of intrinsic disorder status of CHIKV. To fulfil this goal, we have analyzed the abundance and functionality of IDPs/IDPRs in CHIKV proteins, involved in the replication and maturation. It is likely that these IDPs/IDPRs can serve as novel targets for disorder based drug design.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aedes / virology
  • Animals
  • Chikungunya Fever / pathology
  • Chikungunya Fever / virology*
  • Chikungunya virus / chemistry*
  • Chikungunya virus / genetics
  • Chikungunya virus / pathogenicity
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Humans
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / analysis*
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / chemistry
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / genetics
  • Mutation
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Proteome / analysis*
  • Proteome / chemistry
  • Proteome / genetics
  • Proteomics / methods
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / analysis
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / genetics
  • Viral Structural Proteins / analysis
  • Viral Structural Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Structural Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins
  • Proteome
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins
  • Viral Structural Proteins