Chikungunya virus non-structural polyprotein (CHIKV nsP)

The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) replication machinery is a multi-protein complex derived from the non-structural polyprotein, which is cleaved into four essential subunits: nsP1, nsP2, nsP3, and nsP4 (UniProt: P0C2P5). This complex is responsible for the synthesis of viral genomic and subgenomic RNA within the host cell cytoplasm (PubMed: 32824354). nsP1 is involved in RNA capping and membrane anchoring, nsP2 acts as a protease and helicase, nsP3 facilitates host-protein interactions, and nsP4 serves as the primary RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (PubMed: 29456131). As these enzymes are critical for viral survival and lack human orthologs, they represent high-value therapeutic targets for treating Chikungunya fever (NCBI: NBK537333). Current drug discovery efforts target these proteins to inhibit viral load and alleviate the debilitating joint pain associated with infection (PubMed: 31433746).

Other names

Chikungunya virus replication complexCHIKV nsP1-4Chikungunya virus non-structural proteinsCHIKV replicase

Inhibition of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity, inhibition of nsP2 protease-mediated polyprotein cleavage, or interference with nsP1-mediated RNA capping (PubMed: 29456131).