Mucambo virus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mucambo virus, also known as Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus, belongs to the genus Alphavirus and is from the family Togaviridae. It has a single stranded positive sense stranded RNA (ssRNA) genome, and so it is classified as being a Class IV virus under the Baltimore classification system.
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[edit] Virus Morphology
The virion is spherical and approximately 70 nm in diameter. It has a lipid membrane with glycoprotein surface proteins spread around the outside. Surrounding the nuclear material is a nucleocapsid that has an icosohedral symmetry of T = 4, and is approximately 40 nm in diameter.
[edit] Gene expression and Genome replication
As with all Togaviridae, the genome is divided into two parts; the non structural proteins are found at the 5’ end, and the structural proteins at the 3’ end of the RNA. Since the genome is positive sense RNA, it is able to act as a piece of mRNA, and so the first round of replication occurs using the virus genome as a transcript. This produces the non-structural proteins (NS proteins), which include an RNA dependant RNA polymerase. The NS proteins produce a complementary strand of RNA to the genome, and from this the genome is replicated. At the end of the virus cycle the structural proteins are made and assembly and maturation occurs. The virus is released by either budding or in some cases lysis.
[edit] Infection
The Mucambo virus infects vertebrates including the Primates, Rodentia and Perissodactyla. The virus travels between hosts using an insect vector, and it has been shown that the insect displays not pathological side effects.
[edit] References
- Esparza, J., et al, 1975, “Multiplication of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (Mucambo) virus in cultured mosquito cells”, Biomedical and Life Sciences and Medicine, 49, 2/3, 273-280
- ICTV database [1]
