Structural and Functional Characterisation of BK Agnoprotein as a Novel Viroporin (360G-Wellcome-109157_Z_15_A)
BK polyomavirus is ≥90% seroprevalent in the global population, causing nephropathies and ultimately acute rejection in renal transplant recipients. Previous work has shown that the agnoprotein of BK polyomavirus is a critical egress/release factor during the viral life cycle. The proposed project aims to further our understanding of the putative viroporin function of BK agnoprotein, and determine whether the agnoprotein would be a suitable target for anti-viral therapeutics. These aims will be achieved using a combination of structural and biochemical techniques to provide the first structural information about BK agnoprotein, characterisation of agnoprotein pore formation in in vitro assays, and screening of small molecule compound to identify potential agnoprotein inhibitors. In addition, the project will take advantage of existing primary kidney cell culture systems to study viroporin function during the BK life cycle. Should inhibitors of viroporin be identified, their efficacy will be tested against a number of clinical isolates of BK, obtained from our collaborators in the kidney transplant unit at Leeds. Together, these studies will provide new insight into the structure and function of agnoprotein and may validate a novel target for anti-viral therapeutic intervention.
Where is this data from?
This data was originally published by The Wellcome Trust. If you see something about your organisation or the funding it has received on this page that doesn't look right you can submit a grantee amendment request. You can hover over codes from standard codelists to see the user-friendly name provided by 360Giving.