Статья

Liquid–liquid phase separation by intrinsically disordered protein regions of viruses: Roles in viral life cycle and control of virus–host interactions

S. Brocca, R. Grandori, S. Longhi, V. Uversky,
2021

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are unable to adopt a unique 3D structure under physiological conditions and thus exist as highly dynamic conformational ensembles. IDPs are ubiquitous and widely spread in the protein realm. In the last decade, compelling experimental evidence has been gathered, pointing to the ability of IDPs and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) to undergo liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS), a phenomenon driving the formation of membrane-less organelles (MLOs). These biological condensates play a critical role in the spatio-temporal organization of the cell, where they exert a multitude of key biological functions, ranging from transcriptional regulation and silencing to control of signal transduction networks. After introducing IDPs and LLPS, we herein survey available data on LLPS by IDPs/IDRs of viral origin and discuss their functional implications. We distinguish LLPS associated with viral replication and trafficking of viral components, from the LLPS-mediated interference of viruses with host cell functions. We discuss emerging evidence on the ability of plant virus proteins to interfere with the regulation of MLOs of the host and propose that bacteriophages can interfere with bacterial LLPS, as well. We conclude by discussing how LLPS could be targeted to treat phase separation-associated diseases, including viral infections. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Цитирование

Источник

Версии

  • 1. Version of Record от 2021-04-27

Метаданные

Об авторах
  • S. Brocca
    Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, 20126, Italy
  • R. Grandori
    Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques (AFMB), Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, Marseille, 13288, France
  • S. Longhi
    Department of Molecular Medicine, Byrd Alzheimer’s Research Institute, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33601, United States
  • V. Uversky
    Laboratory of New Methods in Biology, Institute for Biological Instrumentation of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center “Pushchino Scientific Center for Biological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences”, Pushchino, 142290, Russian Federation
Название журнала
  • International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Том
  • 21
Выпуск
  • 23
Страницы
  • 1-31
Издатель
  • MDPI AG
Тип документа
  • Review
Тип лицензии Creative Commons
  • CC
Правовой статус документа
  • Свободная лицензия
Источник
  • scopus