Identification and Characterization Of New Viroporins From Pathogenic Viruses.

Viroporins are small membrane proteins that are 50-120 amino acids long. These proteins are hydrophobic in nature and are contribute to the fusion and budding of viral particles. Influenza A M2 protein is a well-established. homo-tetrameric viroporin and selective for H+ transport. Amantadine and rimantadine have been well-known M2 channel blockers. Based on knowledge about M2 here we have identified and characterized six new viroporin candidates from human pathogenic viruses. For establishing viroporin activity we used three different bacterial based bioassay- Positive, Negative genetic assay and pHlux assay to analyzed these new viroporins. Using these methods we have identified 6K protein from Alphavirus, MgM from West Nile virus, P1 and 2k from Dengue virus, V151 and V170 from Variola virus as viroporin candidates. The approach presented here can be used as a fast way to identify new viroporins candidates form other viruses. Also, these assay can be used as HTS tool for search new compounds as corresponding viroporin inhibitors.