A Clamp for Emerging Flu Viruses: Researchers Unravel Secret of Innate Immune Response

Website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100428085843.htm

Article: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. "A Clamp for Emerging Flu Viruses: Researchers Unravel Secret of Innate Immune Response."ScienceDaily 30 April 2010. 9 May 2010 /releases/2010/04/100428085843.htm>.

Researchers have just unraveled the structure and mechanism by which the protein, Mx (short for myxovirus resistance) protects the body from influenza. Previous to this discovery, the exact mechanism by which this protein protected was unknown. It is now understood that Mx works like a molecular machine by joining individual molecules into a macromolecule shaped like a ring. It is only once it has achieved this right structure that it is fully activated. The stalk is the element in Mx that is responsible for the forming of the ring and has been the center of research for many years.

It is now understood that the Stalk functions as a clamp to deactivate and restrain the virus in infected cells. New pandemics can only arise when pathogens are especially powerful and harmful. Understanding the basis of Mx at the molecular level, not just the atomic level, will play a huge role in upcoming drug and antiretroviral development in the coming years.