Many viral proteins undergo proteolytic processing events that are required for virus infection and virion assembly. In this issue of Biochemical Journal, Strongin and co-workers report that the NS3 protease from West Nile virus unexpectedly cleaves certain substrates at pairs of basic residues, a specificity that resembles that of the furin-like PCs (proprotein convertases). This led to the demonstration that furin/PC inhibitors containing poly(D-arginine) are also potent inhibitors of NS3, and that anthrax toxin protective antigen and myelin basic protein are potential NS3 substrates. Structural modelling based on Dengue virus NS3 provided a possible rationale for the observed cleavage specificity of West Nile virus NS3.
The Biochemical Society, London
2006
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