Single mutation gives virus new target
Monday, October 21, 2013 - 16:30
in Biology & Nature
In a new study published online in the journal PLOS Pathogens, an international team of scientists showed that by swapping a single amino acid they could change the sugar to which the human BK polyomavirus will binds on the surface of cells. The BK polyomavirus lost the ability to bind its usual target sugar and instead "preferred" the same sugar as its cousin SV40 polyomavirus, which is active in monkeys.