Studying the requirements for the nsP2 protease activity of chikungunya virus

DUARTE A; SEBASTIANO VOLPE; MÓNICA R. MONTES; GIULIANA FERNANDEZ; SANTIAGO FARAJ; FILOMATORI CLAUDIA

Congreso; merican Dengue Research Network Meeting,; 2023

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an important human pathogen transmitted by mosquitoes that belongs to the genus Alphavirus, which has recently caused explosive epidemics in the Indian Ocean and the Americas. Despite its high prevalence, there are no vaccines or specific therapies against CHIKV.The viral replication complex is formed by nonstructural proteins that are released by CHIKV nsP2 protease domain (nsP2-pro). The sequential release of individual proteins coordinates the different stages of the viral replication cycle. Our objective is to identify the substrate amino acids involved in the catalysis reaction and those that modulate enzymatic activity by determining sequential cleavage. To investigate the requirements for nsP2-pro activity, we assessed viral replication in cultured cells and performed in vitro protease activity of purified nsP2.