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Rabies virus modifies host behaviour through a snake-toxin like region of its glycoprotein that inhibits neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS.

ABSTRACT: Rabies virus induces drastic behaviour modifications in infected hosts. The mechanisms used to achieve these changes in the host are not known. The main finding of this study is that a region in the rabies virus glycoprotein, with homologies to snake toxins, has the ability to alter behaviour in animals through inhibition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors present in the central nervous system. This finding provides a novel aspect to virus receptor interaction and host manipulation by pathogens in general. The neurotoxin-like region of the rabies virus glycoprotein inhibited acetylcholine responses of ?4?2 nicotinic receptors in vitro, as did full length ectodomain of the rabies virus glycoprotein. The same peptides significantly altered a nicotinic receptor induced behaviour in C. elegans and increased locomotor activity levels when injected into the central nervous system of mice. These results provide a mechanistic explanation for the behavioural changes in hosts infected by rabies virus.

SUBMITTER: Hueffer K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5634495 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rabies virus modifies host behaviour through a snake-toxin like region of its glycoprotein that inhibits neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS.

Hueffer Karsten K Khatri Shailesh S Rideout Shane S Harris Michael B MB Papke Roger L RL Stokes Clare C Schulte Marvin K MK

Scientific reports 20171009 1

Rabies virus induces drastic behaviour modifications in infected hosts. The mechanisms used to achieve these changes in the host are not known. The main finding of this study is that a region in the rabies virus glycoprotein, with homologies to snake toxins, has the ability to alter behaviour in animals through inhibition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors present in the central nervous system. This finding provides a novel aspect to virus receptor interaction and host manipulation by pathogen ...[more]

PMID: 28993633

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Project description:Understanding snake venom proteomes is becoming increasingly important to understand snake venom biology, evolution and especially clinical effects of venoms and approaches to antivenom development. To explore the current state of snake venom proteomics and transcriptomics we investigated venom proteomic methods, associations between methodological and biological variability and the diversity and abundance of protein families. We reviewed available studies on snake venom proteomes from September 2017 to April 2021. This included 81 studies characterising venom proteomes of 79 snake species, providing data on relative toxin abundance for 70 species and toxin diversity (number of different toxins) for 37 species. Methodologies utilised in these studies were summarised and compared. Several comparative studies showed that preliminary decomplexation of crude venom by chromatography leads to increased protein identification, as does the use of transcriptomics. Combining different methodological strategies in venomic approaches appears to maximize proteome coverage. 48% of studies used the RP-HPLC →1D SDS-PAGE →in-gel trypsin digestion → ESI -LC-MS/MS pathway. Protein quantification by MS1-based spectral intensity was used twice as commonly as MS2-based spectral counting (33-15 studies). Total toxin diversity was 25-225 toxins/species, with a median of 48. The relative mean abundance of the four dominant protein families was for elapids; 3FTx-52%, PLA2-27%, SVMP-2.8%, and SVSP-0.1%, and for vipers: 3FTx-0.5%, PLA2-24%, SVMP-27%, and SVSP-12%. Viper venoms were compositionally more complex than elapid venoms in terms of number of protein families making up most of the venom, in contrast, elapid venoms were made up of fewer, but more toxin diverse, protein families. No relationship was observed between relative toxin diversity and abundance. For equivalent comparisons to be made between studies, there is a need to clarify the differences between methodological approaches and for acceptance of a standardised protein classification, nomenclature and reporting procedure. Correctly measuring and comparing toxin diversity and abundance is essential for understanding biological, clinical and evolutionary implications of snake venom composition.

Dataset Information

Rabies virus modifies host behaviour through a snake-toxin like region of its glycoprotein that inhibits neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS.

Publications

Rabies virus modifies host behaviour through a snake-toxin like region of its glycoprotein that inhibits neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS.

Similar Datasets

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