structural biology of viral fibers
members (left-to-right)
Marta Sanz
Gaitero
- doctoral student (RISAM
fellowship)
Thanh
H. Nguyen - postdoc
Mateo Seoane Blanco - doctoral student (FPI
fellowship)
Mark J van Raaij - cientifico titular
Antonio
Pichel Beleiro -
doctoral student (RISAM
fellowship)
Mara Laguna -
technician
Some viruses and
bacteriophages attach to their host cell via proteins integral
to their capsids, for example poliovirus, coxsackievirus and
rhinovirus ('common cold virus'). Other viruses bind to their
host cell receptors via specialized spike proteins (for example
HIV, the AIDS-virus), or via specialized fiber proteins, like
adenovirus, reovirus and many bacteriophages.
Virus fibers have the same basic architecture: they are trimeric
and contain an N-terminal virus or bacteriophage attachment
domain, a long, thin, but stable shaft domain and a more
globular C-terminal cell attachment domain. Their detailed folds
are very diverse and often reveal novel features. These trimeric, fibrous proteins are very stable to
denaturation by temperature or detergents. Our goal is to
determine the structures of these proteins and thus to make an
extensive inventory of stable trimeric folds present in nature.
We also want to explain how they bind their receptors and
therefore aim to crystallize them with receptor analogues.
news
february
2018: mini-review
about contractile tail systems published in Molecular
Microbiology
january 2018: Thanh left to go back to the Vietnamese Academy of Science
and Technology Institute
of Biotechnology in Hanoi - we wish him a lot of success!
december 2017: review on Bacteriophage
T4 Long Tail Fiber Domains online
october 2017: paper
including snake adenovirus LH3 protein structure published
in Structure
september
2017: CASP12
Target
Highlights paper online
june 2017: paper on phage T4
gp34 structure published in Viruses (on the
cover)
april 2017: Mark appointed Section
Editor of Acta
Crystallographica F
structure
gallery
bacteriophage
fibers
adenovirus
proteins
bacteriophage
endolysins
bacterial
dehydroquinase, shikimate kinase
collaborators
contact
group
webpage @ CNB-CSIC
positions
Section Editor of Acta
Crystallographica F, Structural Biology Communications
ResearchGate
page Mark van Raaij