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Title: Structural studies of viperin, an antiviral radical SAM enzyme

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
 [1];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [1]
  1. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
  2. Yale Univ. School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States)
  3. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

Viperin is an IFN-inducible radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) enzyme that inhibits viral replication. We determined crystal structures of an anaerobically prepared fragment of mouse viperin (residues 45–362) complexed with S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) or 5'-deoxyadenosine (5'-dAdo) and l-methionine (l-Met). Viperin contains a partial (βα)6-barrel fold with a disordered N-terminal extension (residues 45–74) and a partially ordered C-terminal extension (residues 285–362) that bridges the partial barrel to form an overall closed barrel structure. Cys84, Cys88, and Cys91 located after the first β-strand bind a [4Fe-4S] cluster. The active site architecture of viperin with bound SAH (a SAM analog) or 5'-dAdo and l-Met (SAM cleavage products) is consistent with the canonical mechanism of 5'-deoxyadenosyl radical generation. The viperin structure, together with sequence alignments, suggests that vertebrate viperins are highly conserved and that fungi contain a viperin-like ortholog. Many bacteria and archaebacteria also express viperin-like enzymes with conserved active site residues. Structural alignments show that viperin is similar to several other radical SAM enzymes, including the molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic enzyme MoaA and the RNA methyltransferase RlmN, which methylates specific nucleotides in rRNA and tRNA. As a result, the viperin putative active site contains several conserved positively charged residues, and a portion of the active site shows structural similarity to the GTP-binding site of MoaA, suggesting that the viperin substrate may be a nucleoside triphosphate of some type.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; DK067081; GM102869
OSTI ID:
1374624
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 114, Issue 26; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 46 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

Organometallic and radical intermediates reveal mechanism of diphthamide biosynthesis journal March 2018
Anaerobic Radical Enzymes for Biotechnology journal April 2018
Viperin Inhibits Enterovirus A71 Replication by Interacting with Viral 2C Protein journal December 2018
Recent advances in antiviral interferon-stimulated gene biology journal January 2018
Characterization and Transcript Expression Analyses of Atlantic Cod Viperin journal March 2019
Viperin interacts with the kinase IRAK1 and the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF6, coupling innate immune signaling to antiviral ribonucleotide synthesis journal March 2019
Reconstitution and substrate specificity for isopentenyl pyrophosphate of the antiviral radical SAM enzyme viperin journal July 2018
Tick-Borne Flaviviruses and the Type I Interferon Response journal June 2018
A naturally occurring antiviral ribonucleotide encoded by the human genome journal June 2018