Catching a Virus in the Act
Scientists can see how a virus causes infection by interacting with DNA, thanks to the first molecular-scale images of the phenomenon. Now that they can see how the virus does its dirty work, researchers can try to build a drug to block it.
Biologists from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Albert Einstein College of Medicine created a computer model of DNA binding to an adenovirus enzyme at a point in time they believe is critical for causing infection. The image they generated appears on the October 2004 cover of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.
Adenoviruses cause respiratory, gastrointestinal and eye infections, including pink eye. Some adenovirus eye infections lead to blindness and, in people whose immune systems are challenged, the virus can be deadly.
When the researchers caught a glimpse of the virus in action, they saw for the first time that DNA bound directly to the virus enzyme, called a protease. The researchers believe the protease uses the DNA as a guide to spread infection.
"This was the first example of that ever happening, and a lot of people didn't believe this when we first published it," said Walter Mangel, a co-author of the paper and head of the lab at Brookhaven that performed the work.
His lab first published data suggesting the phenomenon back in 1993, when it was met with some skepticism. But now they have visual proof.
