Issue 1, 2012

Structural disorder within paramyxovirus nucleoproteins and phosphoproteins

Abstract

This review focuses on the experimental data showing the abundance of structural disorder within the nucleoprotein (N) and phosphoprotein (P) from three paramyxoviruses, namely Nipah (NiV), Hendra (HeV) and measles (MeV) viruses. We provide a detailed description of the molecular mechanisms governing the disorder-to-order transition of the intrinsically disordered C-terminal domains (NTAIL) of their N proteins upon binding to the C-terminal X domain (XD) of the homologous P proteins. We also show that a significant flexibility persists within NTAIL–XD complexes, which therefore provide illustrative examples of “fuzziness”. The functional implications of structural disorder are discussed in light of the ability of disordered regions to establish a complex molecular partnership, thereby leading to a variety of biological effects. Taking into account the promiscuity that typifies disordered regions, we propose that the main functional advantage of the abundance of disorder within viruses would reside in pleiotropy and genetic compaction, where a single gene would encode a single (regulatory) protein product able to establish multiple interactions via its disordered regions, and hence to exert multiple concomitant biological effects.

Graphical abstract: Structural disorder within paramyxovirus nucleoproteins and phosphoproteins

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
26 May 2011
Accepted
24 Jun 2011
First published
01 Aug 2011

Mol. BioSyst., 2012,8, 69-81

Structural disorder within paramyxovirus nucleoproteins and phosphoproteins

J. Habchi and S. Longhi, Mol. BioSyst., 2012, 8, 69 DOI: 10.1039/C1MB05204G

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