Abstract
Flaviviruses are enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses that widely infect many animal species. The envelope protein, a structural protein of flavivirus, plays an important role in host cell viral infections. It is composed of three separate structural envelope domains I, II, and III (EDI, EDII, and EDIII). EDI is a structurally central domain of the envelope protein which stabilizes the overall orientation of the protein, and the glycosylation sites in EDI are related to virus production, pH sensitivity, and neuroinvasiveness. EDII plays an important role in membrane fusion because of the immunodominance of the fusion loop epitope and the envelope dimer epitope. Additionally, EDIII is the major target of neutralization antibodies. The envelope protein is an important target for research to develop vaccine candidates and antiviral therapeutics. This review summarizes the structures and functions of ED I/II/III, and provides practical applications for the three domains, with the ultimate goal of implementing strategies to utilize the envelope protein against flavivirus infections, thus achieving better diagnostics and developing potential flavivirus therapeutics and vaccines.
Highlights
Together with the pestivirus and hepacivirus, the flavivirus genus is a member of the Flaviviridae family
In Deng’s study [81], he found that the motif 394 HHWH397, which was located within the terminai end of a β-pleated sheet of a Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) EDIII protein, was the minimal unit of linear epitope that was recognized by mAb 2B4
All viral fusion proteins, including the E protein, have two membrane-interacting elements: A C-terminal transmembrane anchor that supports the proteins in the viral membrane and a hydrophobic region that interacts with the cell membrane
Summary
Together with the pestivirus and hepacivirus, the flavivirus genus is a member of the Flaviviridae family. To our knowledge, it is the biggest genus and is comprised of more than 70 viruses including the arthropod-borne viruses that mainly cause severe vertebrate diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks. It is the biggest genus and is comprised of more than 70 viruses including the arthropod-borne viruses that mainly cause severe vertebrate diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks These viruses mainly cause encephalitis and haemorrhagic fever [1]. There is an urgent need for drugs or therapies to combat these diseases
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