Swine Flu: New 3-D Structural Model Of Critical H1N1 Protein Developed

In just two weeks from the time the first patient virus samples were made available, Singapore scientists report an evolutionary analysis of a critical protein produced by the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus strain. In the Biology Direct journal’s May 20th issue, Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, Ph.D., and his team of scientists at the Bioinformatics Institute (BII), one of the research institutes at Singapore’s Biopolis, also demonstrated the use of a computational 3-dimensional (3D) structural model of the protein, neuraminidase. 
“Because we were working as a team, driven by the common goal to understand potential risks from this new virus, our group at BII was able to successfully complete this difficult analysis within such a short time,” said Dr. Maurer-Stroh, BII principal investigator and first author of the paper. 

BII’s interactive 3D model is available at the following link: http://mendel.bii.a-star.edu.sg/SEQUENCES/H1N1/ 

With the 3D model, Dr. Maurer-Stroh and his team were able to map the regions of the protein that have mutated and determine whether drugs and vaccines that target specific areas of the protein were effective. 

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