Two Novel Henipaviruses Detected in Fruit bats in China 
The henipaviruses, Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV) are known to cause fatal diseases in humans............
#bats #china #Fruitbats #hendravirus #henipavirus #Langyavirus #nipahvirus #Paramyxoviridae #Yunnan
Umesh Prasad

https://www.scientificeuropean.co.uk/medicine/two-novel-henipaviruses-detected-in-fruit-bats-in-china/

Two Novel Henipaviruses Detected in Fruit bats in China 
The henipaviruses, Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV) are known to cause fatal diseases in humans............
#bats #china #Fruitbats #hendravirus #henipavirus #Langyavirus #nipahvirus #Paramyxoviridae #Yunnan
Umesh Prasad

https://www.scientificeuropean.co.uk/medicine/two-novel-henipaviruses-detected-in-fruit-bats-in-china/

Source: BioRxIV, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.04.616610v1?rss=1

Abstract
Nipah virus (NiV) is a non-segmented negative-strand RNA virus (nsNSV) with high pandemic potential, as it frequently causes zoonotic outbreaks and can be transmitted from human to human. Its RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex carries out viral genome replication and transcription and is therefore an attractive drug target. However, to date no structural data is available on the NiV RdRp complex. Here, we report cryo-EM structures of NiV RdRp in the apo and in an early elongation state with RNA and incoming substrate bound. The structure of the apo enzyme reveals the architecture of the NiV RdRp complex, which shows a high degree of similarity to other nsNSV RdRps. The structure of the RNA-bound NiV RdRp shows how the enzyme interacts with template and product RNA during early replication and how nucleoside triphosphates are bound in the active site. Comparisons show that RNA binding leads to rearrangements of key elements in the RdRp core and to ordering of the flexible C-terminal domains of NiV L required for RNA capping. Taken together, these results reveal the first structural snapshots of an actively replicating nsNSV RdRp and provide insights into the mechanisms of genome replication and transcription by NiV and related viruses.

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https://etidioh.wordpress.com/2024/10/05/structural-basis-of-nipah-virus-replication/

#abstract #henipavirus #nipahVirus #research

Source: Journal of Virology, https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/jvi.00806-24?af=R

ABSTRACT
Batborne henipaviruses, such as Nipah and Hendra viruses, represent a major threat to global health due to their propensity for spillover, severe pathogenicity, and high mortality rate in human hosts. Coupled with the absence of approved vaccines or therapeutics, work with the prototypical species and uncharacterized, emergent species is restricted to high biocontainment facilities. There is a scarcity of such specialized spaces for research, and often, the scope and capacity of research, which can be conducted at BSL-4, is limited. Therefore, there is a pressing need for innovative life-cycle modeling systems to enable comprehensive research within lower biocontainment settings. This work showcases tetracistronic, transcription, and replication-competent minigenomes for the Nipah, Hendra, and Cedar viruses, which encode viral proteins facilitating budding, fusion, and receptor binding. We validate the functionality of all encoded viral proteins and demonstrate a variety of applications to interrogate the viral life cycle. Notably, we found that the Cedar virus replicase exhibits remarkable promiscuity, efficiently driving replication and transcription of minigenomes from all tested henipaviruses. We also apply this technology to Ghana virus (GhV), an emergent species that has so far not been isolated in culture. We demonstrate that the reported sequence of GhV is incomplete, but that this missing sequence can be substituted with analogous sequences from other henipaviruses. The use of our GhV system establishes the functionality of the GhV replicase and identifies two antivirals that are highly efficacious against the GhV polymerase.

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https://etidioh.wordpress.com/2024/10/01/tetracistronic-minigenomes-elucidate-a-functional-promoter-for-ghana-virus-and-unveils-cedar-virus-replicase-promiscuity-for-all-henipaviruses/

#abstract #hendraVirus #henipavirus #nipahVirus #research