VP24

Introduction

VP24 is a protein present in the ebola and marburg viruses, both of which are members of Filoviridae family. Presently there are five strains of ebola: Sudan, Reston, Zire, Bundibugyo, and Taï Forest, each with minor differences in VP24 sequences(3). The marburg virus has only one strain.

Function

In Ebola

In a normal immune response interferons (IFN) are produced to alert surrounding cells of the presence of a pathogen. This response activates STAT1, which increases production of immune fighting genes in cells, by phosphorylation. STAT1 is brought to the nucleus by karyopherin α proteins. Ebola protein VP24 binds to karyopherin α1, α5, and α6, making it unable to transport the P-STAT1 to the nucleus. As a result the immune response in cells is then greatly weakened.

In Marburg

Structural Characteristics

This is a sample scene created with SAT to by Group, and another to make of the protein. You can make your own scenes on SAT starting from scratch or loading and editing one of these sample scenes.