Identification of a Zika NS2B-NS3pro pocket susceptible to allosteric inhibition by small molecules including qucertin rich in edible plants

Liangzhong Lim; Amrita Roy; Jianxing Song

Zika virus with a single stranded, positive sense RNA genome of 10.7 kb belongs to the flavivirus genus, which also contains Dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, and tick-borne encephalitis viruses (4, 11) . Zika virus shares a high degree of sequence and structural homology with other flaviviruses particularly Dengue virus, thus resulting in immunological cross-reactivity (7) . As such, Zika was proposed as the fifth member of the Dengue serocomplex. Seriously, the current Zika outbreaks are largely localized within dengue-endemic areas, it is thus possible that preexisting dengue-induced antibodies may enhance Zika infection by antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), a factor that makes the vaccine approaches extremely challenging (7) .