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Digital World Biology News December 2018 
Flu season is upon us.  We're lucky to have antiviral drugs what work pretty well if you take them quickly enough.  But, if you explore our collection of influenza proteins from drug-resistant strains, you'll see it only takes one base change in the right place to keep antiviral drugs from working.  Getting the vaccine is a much more sensible bet than hoping evolution won't happen.

December topics
  • Register now for our ACC bioinformatics instructors course
  • It's flu season - Investigating Drug Resistance in Influenza
  • Amino Fish, Biochemi Cards, and Amino Rummy cards make great stocking stuffers!

Bioinformatics Instructor Course

 
Register now for our bioinformatics instructor course, offered Spring 2019 through Austin Community College.  This 16-week course goes from Jan 22nd to May 19th.

View course details:
http://continue.austincc.edu/schedule/view?id=76890

Registration tips
The registration process has a couple of confusing steps, so I have a few instructions below:
1. Click http://continue.austincc.edu/register/computer.php
2. If you've never taken courses through Austin Community College, click "New Student Registration." If you've taken courses through Austin Community College, enter your ACCeID and follow the directions.
3.  Click the link to open a secure registration window.
4.  Type or paste 76890 in a Synonym field and click the Submit button.
5.  Click the check box to select the course and click the Submit button.
6.  At this point, you'll see a page titled "Personal Identification"

Most of the steps are clear from here on except one.  You must pick a county.  If you're not from Texas, pick any county.

7.  Finish completing the forms.

If you have any questions or trouble registering, please email  Sandra@digitalworldbiology.com 
A transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image showing features of 1918 influenza virus virions.  The surface of the virions show hemagglutinin and neuraminidase glycoproteins.  

Obtained from the CDC Public Health Image Library
Photo credit:  Cynthia Goldsmith. 2006
 

Investigating Drug Resistance in Influenza


One of the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance is for bacteria to change the site where a drug binds to a protein.  Changing the binding site can prevent a drug from binding to that protein and inhibiting the activity.  This same mechanism operates in viruses, too. 

You and your students can explore drug resistance in influenza with the Molecule World influenza structure collection.  It contains several pairs of aligned structures from drug-sensitive and drug-resistant forms of influenza virus neuraminidase proteins.  In our bioinformatics class, each student is assigned a pair of structures and has to figure out why one member of the pair is resistant to the anti-viral drug.

The images below show interactions between Tamiflu® (dim) and amino acids in neuraminidase proteins.  On the left is a neuraminidase structure from a drug-sensitive form of the protein.  An ionic interaction occurs between the positively charged nitrogens in arginine and the negatively charged oxygen in Tamiflu. This ionic interaction helps Tamiflu bind to the active site of the neuraminidase, preventing the virus from escaping a dead cell and going off to infect a new one.

On the right, is a structure from a drug-resistant form of neuraminidase.  This protein is resistant to Tamiflu because the nitrogen at the end of the lysine is too far away from the oxygen in the drug to form a strong bond.  

The influenza genome is made of RNA and is very prone to mutations. Only one base had to change to make this strain of influenza resistant to Tamiflu.  

It's pretty easy to find drug-resistant strains of flu because of evolution. That's why I get the vaccine.
 
Explore the Influenza Drug Resistance Structure Collection
If you want to see investigative labs with influenza and learn more about working with molecular models, check out  Exploring Molecular Structures.
  
Science Stocking Stuffers!
Shop Now
Where can you find us in 2018?
Mar 15-16th   DNA Bootcamp, Kalispell, MT
Mar  22-23rd  Life Science Discovery Conference, Gainesville, FL

We hope to see you there!
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