Rotavirus consists of three groups, and one of them may cause gastroenteritis in people. These rotavirus groups are referred to as groups A, B, and C.
The groups A and C usually affect children, while group B causes severe diarrhea in adults due to the virus spike protein, VP8*. The good news? Scientists are closer to determining the structure of VP8 to treat the infection, thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
AlphaFold2
A study shows how an AI program can predict the 3D structure of the VP8*. The first step of the team is to determine the 3D structure of the virus through X-ray crystallography, but it was unsuccessful. They then turned to an AI-based computational program, the AlphaFold2.
The AlphaFold2 was successful and the scientists confirmed that its predictions coincided with the actual structure of the protein via the X-ray crystallography.
The Rotavirus
It has been shown that Rotavirus A and C uses the VP8* domain to bind specific sugar components on hist-blood group antigens, such as the A, B, AB, and O blood groups. This suggests that the ability of these viruses to infect young children while others affect other populations.
It was only now, however, that the VP8* has been characterized. The scientists screened the VP8* B against a range of sugars, which led to the discovery that it recognizes N-acetyllactosamine that isn't recognize by VP8* of rotavirus A and C.
Currently, scientists are still investigating how this new structure will interact with cells to infect them and how the process will compare to the rotavirus A and C. They will also grow the adult viruses in the human organic systems which will help the scientists probe the mechanism of virus entry and growth. This can lead to new treatments to treat the disease.
The Future of Structural Biology with Artificial Intelligence
In a nutshell, AI can lead scientists to discover new mechanisms and compounds to treat infections and disease. In this study, it helped scientists to determine the structure of VP8*, a protein that affects the infection of the rotavirus. Given the success of AlphaFold2, it might be possible to create other artificial intelligence programs to aid in the research of other proteins.
All in all, the advances in structural biology would not be possible without the aid of AI. The more complex the problem, the harder it will be for scientists to solve the puzzle. Instead of spending months and years trying to solve a difficult problem, scientists can use their time and effort to solve other problems.
In other words, AlphaFold2 is a program that will be used to develop a series of software for the prediction of the structure of proteins that researchers can then use for their latest research.
Related Article: DeepMind AI 'AlphaFold' Gets Closer to Perfect Prediction of Protein Folding with Groundbreaking Accuracy
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Written by April Fowell
