Virology & Mycology
Open Access

Structural basis of the influenza virus resistance against a viral endonuclease inhibitor L-742,001

2^nd International Conference on Flu

October 31-November 02, 2016 San Francisco, USA

Gyanendra Kumar

St. Jude Children��?s Research Hospital, USA

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Virol Mycol

Abstract :

The influenza endonuclease is an essential sub-domain of the viral RNA polymerase. It processes host pre-mRNAs to serve as primers for viral mRNA and is emerging as an attractive target for anti-influenza drug discovery. Compound L-742,001 is a prototypical endonuclease inhibitor, and we found that repeated passaging of influenza virus in the presence of this inhibitor did not lead to the development of resistant mutant strains. Reduced sensitivity to L-742,001 could only be induced by creating point mutations via a random mutagenesis strategy. These mutations mapped to the endonuclease active site where they can directly impact inhibitor binding. Engineered viruses containing the mutations showed resistance to L-742,001 both in vitro and in vivo, with only a modest reduction in fitness. Using the isolated wild-type and mutant endonuclease domains, we used kinetics, inhibitor binding and crystallography to characterize the two most significant mutations. The crystal structures provide an explanation for the mechanism of resistance. These studies lay the foundation for the development of a new class of influenza therapeutics with reduced potential for the development of clinical endonuclease inhibitor resistant influenza strains.

Biography :

Gyanendra Kumar has earned his PhD from IISc, Bangalore in 2007 and then joined the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York and worked on drug discovery for Botulinum neurotoxins. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, working on the drug discovery for influenza by targeting the endonuclease domain of viral RdRp. He has published numerous research articles on malaria, botulism and influenza and presented his work at international conferences. He serves as a Referee for several journals and is a Member of ACS, ACA, AAAS and ISIRV.

Email: gyanendra99@hotmail.com