Zika virus NS3 is a canonical RNA helicase stimulated by NS5 RNA polymerase

Crystal structure of Zika virus NS5 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

The current Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak became a global health threat of complex epidemiology and devastating neurological impacts, therefore requiring urgent efforts towards the development of novel efficacious and safe antiviral drugs. Due to its central role in RNA viral replication, the non-structural protein 5 (NS5) RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) is a prime target for drug discovery. H...

Modulation of the hepatitis C virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity by the NS3 helicase and the NS4B membrane protein

Glutathionylation of dengue and Zika NS5 proteins affects guanylyltransferase and RNA dependent RNA polymerase activities

It has been estimated for dengue infection that the global population at risk is 3.5 billion people, which makes dengue an important public health problem. The causative agents of dengue are dengue viruses. For dengue virus replication, the dengue virus NS5 protein is of special importance as it has several enzyme activities important for viral replication. Previous reports of phosphorylation a...

Stimulation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) helicase activity by the NS3 protease domain and by HCV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) possesses multiple enzyme activities. The N-terminal one-third of NS3 primarily functions as a serine protease, while the remaining two-thirds of NS3 serve as a helicase and nucleoside triphosphatase. Whether the multiple enzyme activities of NS3 are functionally interdependent and/or modulated by other viral NS proteins remains unclear. We ...

Enhancement of RNA Interference Effect in P19 EC Cells by an RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase

Background: RNA interference (RNAi) is a phenomenon uses double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to specifically inhibit gene expression. The non-specific silencing caused by interferon response to dsRNA in mammalian cells limits the potential of utilizing RNAi to study gene function. Duplexes of 21-nucleotide short interfering dsRNA (siRNA) inhibit gene expression by RNAi. In some organisms, siRNA can als...