Article published and highlighted in Journal of Virology

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was well represented in a highlighted article published in the June edition of the Journal of Virology. The article is titled, Structural Insights into Human Bocaparvoviruses.

First author on this article is Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna’s postdoctoral associate, Dr. Mario Mietzsch. Additional authors from our department include Dr. Shweta Kailasan, Dr. Jamie Garrison, Dr. Maria Ilyas, Paul Chipman and faculty members, Dr. Robert McKenna, Dr. Kevin Brown, and Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna.

Additionally, the article was selected by the editors of the Journal of Virology as an article of significant interest, and the cover artwork featured the capsid structure of HBoVs.

The journal editors wrote the following summary to spotlight the article:

Structure of Human Bocaparvoviruses

Human bocaviruses (HBoVs) are emerging pathogens that cause either respiratory (HBoV1) or gastrointestinal (HBoV2 to HBoV4) infections in children for which there are neither vaccines nor therapeutics. Mietzsch et al. (e00261-17) determined the capsid structures of HBoV1, HBoV3, and HBoV4 to resolutions of 2.8 to 3.0 Å by using cryo-electron microscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction. The resolution of these structures, which are among the highest that have been obtained using cryo-reconstruction for virus capsids of this size, provide atomic-level information on the HBoV capsids and suggest capsid regions that likely control infection, including determinants for receptor attachment, host cell trafficking, and antigenic reactivity.

On behalf of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Congratulations!

Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, Professor
Dr. Mario Mietzsch, Postdoc

For more information on Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna’s research or to contact her, visit her faculty webpage.