Zika virus proteins causing birth and neurological defects identified

New York: Researchers have identified seven proteins linked to Zika virus that believed to cause conditions, including birth defects such as microcephaly and neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

"The mechanism of Zika virus has been a real mystery," said lead researcher Richard Zhao, Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM).

"These results give us crucial insight into how Zika affects cells. We now have some really valuable clues for future research," Zhao added.

Thousands of people around the world were infected by Zika and the Americas was one of the worst hit countries. Till now, there has been no development of vaccines or any kind of treatment for Zika virus symptoms.

To test the virus, Zhao used fission yeast – a species that in recent years has become a relatively common way to test how pathogens affect cells.

For the experiment, Zhao separated each of the virus's 14 proteins and small peptides from the overall virus. He then exposed yeast cells to each of the 14 proteins, to see how the cells responded.

Seven of the 14 proteins harmed or damaged the yeast cells in some way, inhibiting their growth, damaging them or killing them.

Understanding the functions of these proteins in humans is the next step, since it is possible that some of them may be more capable of damage than others, or perhaps all of them work in concert to cause harm, the researchers said.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

(With IANS inputs)