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Organization, Function, and Therapeutic Targeting of the Morbillivirus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Complex

Julien Sourimant1, Richard K Plemper2

  • 1Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Av, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA. jsourimant@gsu.edu.

Viruses
|September 15, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Morbilliviruses, like measles virus, cause significant disease. Understanding their RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex is key to developing new antiviral drugs targeting these vital pathogens.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Structural Biology
  • Drug Discovery

Background:

  • Morbilliviruses are significant human and animal pathogens, including measles virus.
  • These viruses possess single-stranded negative-sense RNA genomes within a lipid envelope.
  • Viral RNA transcription and replication depend on the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent advances in understanding the structure and function of the morbillivirus polymerase complex.
  • To highlight the urgent need for novel antiviral therapeutics against morbilliviruses.
  • To identify the RdRp complex as a promising target for drug development.

Main Methods:

  • Review of recent structural and functional studies on morbillivirus polymerase.
  • Analysis of distinct therapeutic intervention strategies.
  • Examination of high-resolution insights into polymerase complex organization.

Main Results:

  • Breakthroughs in understanding the structural and functional aspects of the morbillivirus polymerase complex have been achieved.
  • The viral polymerase complex exhibits unique structural and enzymatic properties.
  • High-resolution data offers potential for structure-based drug design.

Conclusions:

  • The morbillivirus polymerase complex is a viable target for antiviral drug development.
  • Structure-based design approaches can lead to next-generation RdRp inhibitors.
  • Targeting the polymerase complex is crucial for combating morbillivirus infections.
Keywords:
antiviral drugmeasles virusmorbilliviruspolymerase inhibitorviral polymerase

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