Adenoviruses are non-enveloped icosahedral viruses with trimeric fibre proteins protruding from their vertices. There are five known genera, from which only Mastadenoviruses have been widely studied. Apart from studying adenovirus as a biological model system and with a view to prevent or combat viral infection, there is a major interest in using adenovirus for vaccination, cancer therapy and gene therapy purposes ...
Adenoviruses are non-enveloped icosahedral viruses with trimeric fibre proteins protruding from their vertices. There are five known genera, from which only Mastadenoviruses have been widely studied. Apart from studying adenovirus as a biological model system and with a view to prevent or combat viral infection, there is a major interest in using adenovirus for vaccination, cancer therapy and gene therapy purposes. Adenoviruses from the Atadenovirus genus have been isolated from squamate reptile hosts, ruminants and birds and have a characteristic gene organization and capsid morphology. The carboxy-terminal virus-distal fibre head domains are likely responsible for primary receptor recognition. We determined the high-resolution crystal structure of the Snake Adenovirus 1 (SnAdV-1) fibre head using the multi-wavelength anomalous dispersion (MAD) method. Despite the absence of significant sequence homology, this Atadenovirus fibre head has the same beta-sandwich propeller topology as other adenovirus fibre heads. However, it is about half the size, mainly due to much shorter loops connecting the beta-strands. The detailed structure of the SnAdV-1 fibre head and other animal adenovirus fibre heads, together with the future identification of their natural receptors, may lead to the development of new strategies to target adenovirus vectors to cells of interest.
Related Citations:
Crystallization of the C-terminal domain of the fibre protein from snake adenovirus 1, an atadenovirus. Singh, A.K., Menendez-Conejero, R., San Martin, C., van Raaij, M.J. (2013) Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun 69: 1374
Physicochemical Properties and Cytopathogenicity of an Adenovirus-Like Agent Isolated from Corn Snake (Elaphe Guttata). Juhasz, A., Ahne, W. (1993) Arch Virol 130: 429
Completion of the Genome Analysis of Snake Adenovirus Type 1, a Representative of the Reptilian Lineage within the Novel Genus Atadenovirus. Farkas, S.L., Harrach, B., Benko, M. (2008) Virus Res 132: 132
Organizational Affiliation:
Departamento de Estructura de Macromoleculas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain; NanoBiomedicine Initiative, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
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