%0 Journal Article
%T Understanding Viral Transmission Behavior via Protein Intrinsic Disorder Prediction: Coronaviruses
%A Gerard Kian-Meng Goh
%A A. Keith Dunker
%A Vladimir N. Uversky
%J Journal of Pathogens
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/738590
%X Besides being a common threat to farm animals and poultry, coronavirus (CoV) was responsible for the human severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2002¨C4. However, many aspects of CoV behavior, including modes of its transmission, are yet to be fully understood. We show that the amount and the peculiarities of distribution of the protein intrinsic disorder in the viral shell can be used for the efficient analysis of the behavior and transmission modes of CoV. The proposed model allows categorization of the various CoVs by the peculiarities of disorder distribution in their membrane (M) and nucleocapsid (N). This categorization enables quick identification of viruses with similar behaviors in transmission, regardless of genetic proximity. Based on this analysis, an empirical model for predicting the viral transmission behavior is developed. This model is able to explain some behavioral aspects of important coronaviruses that previously were not fully understood. The new predictor can be a useful tool for better epidemiological, clinical, and structural understanding of behavior of both newly emerging viruses and viruses that have been known for a long time. A potentially new vaccine strategy could involve searches for viral strains that are characterized by the evolutionary misfit between the peculiarities of the disorder distribution in their shells and their behavior. 1. Introduction 1.1. Protein Intrinsic Disorder and Viral Behavior Previously, we provided evidence that the behavior of viruses can be predicted from the analysis of their predicted intrinsic disorder in their protein shells, more specifically, by looking at the peculiarities of disorder distribution in their matrix and capsid proteins [1¨C3]. For example, the predicted disorder in the matrix of retroviruses was shown to vary with the mode of the viral transmission. The HIV and EIAV viruses, that are related but have distinctly different modes of transmission, were used to illustrate this point since. HIV is largely transmitted sexually, whereas EIAV is transmitted by a blood-sucking horsefly. It has been observed that the abundance of predicted intrinsic disorder (PID) in the HIV and EIAV matrix proteins was very different, with the HIV proteins being highly disordered, especially HIV-1. An explanation for this has to do with the need for a more rigid encasement in viruses that are not sexually transmitted, so as to protect the virion from harsher environmental factors [1]. 1.2. Goals Further development of a model that could predict how a virus will behave in terms of
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jpath/2012/738590/