The Structure and Function of the Bunyavirus Nucleoprotein / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

ABSTRACT

Bunyavirus is widely distributed, highly contagious, and has a high fatality rate. It is a negative- strand RNA virus that has a major impact on public health around the world. The development of vaccines and the search for drugs are the key to prevent bunyavirus infection. The nucleoprotein (NP) of viruses is necessary for the synthesis of viral RNA, which combines with viral RNA to form the nucleocapsid, participates in viral assembly and RNA transcription, and plays an important role in viral proliferation. In addition, NP also has B cell and T cell epitopes, which can induce cellular and humoral immunity, so NP is an ideal target for vaccine design and drug development. Given its abundance and specificity, NP is also commonly used in the detection of viral diseases. More and more bunyavirus NP structures and structures of NP-RNA complexes have been resolved. Researchers have discovered two important antiviral targets through these structures, the terminal arm and the RNA binding cleft. This paper reviews the function and three-dimensional structure of the bunyavirus NP and the research progress of NP as an antiviral target, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of the bunyavirus disease.