The Rotavirus Proteins.

MATTION, NORA; COHEN, JEAN; ESTES, MARY

Viral Infections of the Gastrointestinal Tract.

Marcel Dekker, Inc

Lugar: New York; Año: 1994; p. 169 - 249

This chapter reviews our current knowledge of the rotavirus proteins.  It focuses  on advances in our understanding of the structure and function relationships of the group A rotavirus proteins from new information published since 1989. particular emphasis is placed on new  insights provided by comparison of the proteins encoded by the group A rotaviruses with those encoded by the non-group A rotaviruses. Each rotavirus protein is described individually. A discussion of the proteins of different virus strains in any rotavirus group is facilitated by the use of the standard nomenclature VP1-8 and by  adoption of a new nomenclature for the nonstructural proteins (NSP1-5), which previously were designated according to its apparent molecular weight  following electrophoresis on denaturing polyacrylamide gels. With the goal of understanding  the molecular mechanisms that regulate rotavirus replication, new work is emerging on the nonstructural proteins. Biochemical studies  and studies with reassortants have unravelled or confirmed some functions. However these efforts remain rather laborious and time consuming. The lack of a system to recover cloned genes into infectious viruses for the segmented dsRNA viruses make further advances seem slow.  The development of a system for gene rescue continues to be a goal  because success will represent a major step to facilitate more  efficient ways to study gene and protein functions. Greatly needed are ways to easily test hypotheses about protein function and about whether specific domains such as those described in this review, function as proposed. In summary, the study of rotaviruses and their encoded proteins continues to proceed rapidly. There is a critical need for more structural studies  to provide a solid foundation for understanding protein function. Application of recent and future molecular and structural information to be discovered will be helpful to facilitate the design of more efficient vaccines and/or antiviral drugs to prevent or ameliorate the significant diarrheal disease that these viruses cause. Evolutionary relationships among the rotavirus also are being probed, and new data indicate more strongly than ever the there is direct animal-human transmission of at least some rotaviruses. What genes affect the success of such transmission will no doubt be sought in the next few years.