REVIEW: Structure and Noncanonical Activities of Coat Proteins of Helical Plant Viruses

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V. V. Makarov and N. O. Kalinina^*

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, 119991 Moscow, Russia; fax: +7 (495) 939-3181; E-mail: kalinina@genebee.msu.ru; makarovvalentine@gmail.com

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received June 30, 2015; Revision received August 17, 2015

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The main function of virus coat protein is formation of the capsid that protects the virus genome against degradation. However, besides the structural function, coat proteins have many additional important activities in the infection cycle of the virus and in the defense response of host plants to viral infection. This review focuses on noncanonical functions of coat proteins of helical RNA-containing plant viruses with positive genome polarity. Analysis of data on the structural organization of coat proteins of helical viruses has demonstrated that the presence of intrinsically disordered regions within the protein structure plays an important role in implementation of nonstructural functions and largely determines the multifunctionality of coat proteins.

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KEY WORDS: helical plant viruses, coat protein, structure, intrinsically disordered regions, noncanonical functions

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297916010016

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