title: Modeling of the Ebola virus delta peptide reveals a potential lytic sequence motif.
abstract: Filoviruses, such as Ebola and Marburg viruses, cause severe outbreaks of human infection, including the extensive epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa in 2014. In the course of examining mutations in the glycoprotein gene associated with 2014 Ebola virus (EBOV) sequences, a differential level of conservation was noted between the soluble form of glycoprotein (sGP) and the full length glycoprotein (GP), which are both encoded by the GP gene via RNA editing. In the region of the proteins encoded after the RNA editing site sGP was more conserved than the overlapping region of GP when compared to a distant outlier species, Tai Forest ebolavirus. Half of the amino acids comprising the "delta peptide", a 40 amino acid carboxy-terminal fragment of sGP, were identical between otherwise widely divergent species. A lysine-rich amphipathic peptide motif was noted at the carboxyl terminus of delta peptide with high structural relatedness to the cytolytic peptide of the non-structural protein 4 (NSP4) of rotavirus. EBOV delta peptide is a candidate viroporin, a cationic pore-forming peptide, and may contribute to EBOV pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Mockingbird Nature Research Group, PO Box 568, Pearl River, LA 70452, USA. profbillg1901@gmail.com.
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Gallaher
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University Medical Center, 1430 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. rfgarry@tulane.edu.
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Garry
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008239:Lysine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C113189:envelope glycoprotein, Ebola virus; D008239:Lysine