Unique properties of Zika NS2B-NS3pro complexes as decoded by experiments and MD simulations

Amrita Roy; Liangzhong Lim; Shagun Srivastava; Jianxing Song

Characterization of the enzymatic catalysis-We subsequently characterized the enzymatic properties of both linked and unlinked Zika NS2B-NS3pro complexes. First, we found that the activity of both complexes showed a very similar dependence on the pH values, with the optimal pH at ~9.5 (Fig. 3A) , very similar to other flavivirus NS2B-NS3pro linked by (Gly4)-Ser-(Gly4) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) . Amazingly, this is very different from Dengue NS2B-NS3pro, for which the optimal pH significantly switched from basic pH to neutral pH upon separating NS2B from NS3pro (23) . Second, the catalytic activity reduced significantly upon increasing the concentrations of NaCl (Fig. 3B ). In the presence of 150 mM NaCl, the catalytic activity is author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.