Abstract
Even though Zika virus was first identified in 1947, the infectious disease remained obscure until a 2015 outbreak in Central and South America. That’s when doctors noted a dramatic rise in infants with underdeveloped heads and brains (a condition known as microcephaly) born to women who were infected with the virus when pregnant. Now, researchers have found that mutation of a single amino acid in one of the Zika virus’s structural proteins, known as prM, may be responsible for causing microcephaly by enabling the virus to kill developing brain cells (Science 2017, DOI: 10.1126/science.aam7120). A team led by Cheng-Feng Qin of the Beijing Institute of Microbiology & Epidemiology and Zhiheng Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences compared three recent strains of Zika virus with one from 2010 and found the more recent versions to be deleterious or deadly to neonatal and fetal mice, whereas the 2010 virus was not.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
