Heavyweight! Scientists are the first to identify the key proteins that make the virus so deadly

January 3, 2017 / BIOON/ --Scientists knew little about Zika virus when it was born In the past year, researchers have conducted in-depth research to clarify why Zika virus can cause a series of dangerous health problems, including neonatal defects, such as microcephaly and neurogenic problems (gerbil's syndrome, etc.), but researchers do not know what kind of protein makes Zika virus have Lethality, of course, they do not know what the mechanism of action of these proteins is Recently, in a research report published in the international journal PNAs, researchers from the University of Maryland School of medicine identified the key proteins that make the virus become lethal through research for the first time in Zika virus In this paper, researchers also conducted in-depth analysis on the genome of Zika virus for the first time Professor Richard Zhao, the researcher, said that the mechanism of the virus has always been a mystery This study provides us with new clues to further clarify the molecular mechanism of Zika virus affecting cells, which is also crucial for the development of new therapies in the later stage Zika virus has infected thousands of people around the world, many of them are Americans In the United States and its territory, so far, there are more than 38000 Zika virus infected patients, most of them are in Puerto Rico; and there is no vaccine or preventive measures against Zika virus In order to detect Zika virus, researcher Zhao and his colleagues use Schizosaccharomyces to study Schizosaccharomyces can help detect how pathogens affect cells It was first used to make beer After decades, Schizosaccharomyces has been used by many scientists to study the behavior mechanism of cells Zhao is a pioneer scientist who studies HIV and barley yellow dwarf virus by using Schizosaccharomyces model, so he is very familiar with Schizosaccharomyces; In this study, the researchers isolated 14 proteins and small peptides of Zika virus, and then exposed yeast cells to each protein to observe the changes of cells The researchers found that seven of these proteins can damage yeast cells in a special way, inhibit cell growth and kill yeast Of course, researchers' research does not stop here They also hope to continue to work on Zika virus in the later stage They hope to understand the mechanism of the newly discovered seven proteins in human body through research At present, researchers are carrying out initial research to clarify the interaction between Zika virus and rats and human cells In the later stage, they hope to conduct joint research To elucidate more molecular mechanism of Zika virus infection.