Modelling the structure of the fusion protein from human respiratory syncytial virus

The fusion protein of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV-F) isresponsible for fusion of virion with host cells and infectionof neighbouring cells through the formation of syncytia. A three-dimensionalmodel structure of RSV-F was derived by homology modelling fromthe structure of the equivalent protein in Newcastle diseasevirus (NDV). Despite very low sequence homology between thetwo structures, most features of the model appear to have highcredibility, although a few small regions in RSV-F whose secondarystructure is predicted to be different to that in NDV are likelyto be poorly modelled. The organization of individual residuesidentified in escape mutants against monoclonal antibodies correlateswell with known antigenic sites. The location of residues involvedin point mutations in several drug-resistant variants is alsoexamined.