Under Wraps

While the world is still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are already looking ahead to try to anticipate the next threat. One priority is Nipah virus, discovered in 1998, a zoonotic virus infecting many species, from bats to pigs, and transmissible to and between humans. Symptoms can include encephalitis, inflammation of the brain, with a mortality rate over 40%, so better understanding this virus to mitigate potential outbreaks is critical. Its genome is a single strand of RNA, wrapped around a helical nucleocapsid (N) protein, that provides protection and assists with replication. Using cryo-electron microscopy, imaging flash-frozen samples, researchers recently reconstructed the N protein’s 3D structure: the segment here shows viral RNA, in magenta, nestling between its inner and outer domains, in red and green. Structural details will enable comparisons with other known viruses, and help assess which sections could be targeted by the immune system and potential therapies.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image credit S. R. Nair, 2021
• Research from York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Pathogens, July 2021