Viral Protein Interaction with Host Cells GSLs

Kim, Cheorl-Ho

Viruses attach and adhere surface receptors to target host cells, and the receptors determine viral tropism of hosts and tissues. Cell surface glycans are used as the virus receptors. The enveloping viruses generally recognize surface receptors of hosts as the initial step in the viral infection cycle to host and further define the viral host range determinant. From the linkage diversity and carbohydrate structure motifs, which are apparently distinct from proteins, most pathogens or viral agents use glycans as infection receptors. The molecular structure of the virus receptors is topical in the field of virus research, but no concrete consensus logics have emerged yet. The viral interaction with the host cell surface is rather the complexed phenomenon with a multiple stage. Such multiple processes possess multiple recognitions and interactions with multiple cell surface molecules as well as accompanying conformational shifts in the virus-produced proteins. In the enveloping viruses, the adhesion-strengthening attachment strategy is affordable for virus-host receptor recognition and interactions to give higher affinities between the receptor and ligand interaction. In that meaning, gangliosides may function in virus-host cell interaction as primary receptors or co-receptors. The co-receptor concept has well been exampled in HIV infection.