The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the cause of the liver
disease hepatitis E. The HEV open reading frame 4 (ORF4) region functional
implication in adaptive evolution remains to be elucidated. The parameters,
including amino acid composition, structural annotation, function and
protein-protein interaction, influence a protein’s process of adaptation.
Therefore, in this chapter, various factors were comprehensively studied, using
bioinformatics tools, which play a vital role in the evolutionary adaptation of
ORF4. The composition of ORF4 revealed the presence of both disordered and
ordered amino acid residues. The ORF4 evolution was shaped by pressures that
led to the predominance of disorder-promoting amino acid residues, including
Ala, Gly, Leu, Pro, Arg and Ser. Structure evaluation of ORF4 revealed the
presence of both structured and unstructured regions. The putative binding
motifs were predicted in ORF4, captivating its involvement in the regulation of
varying cellular signaling processes. Furthermore, structure-based functional
annotation of ORF4 revealed its susceptibility in binding to a wide range of
ligands. As disordered proteins are targets for regulation, ORF4 contributes to
cellular signaling processes through protein-protein interactions. The proposed
study presented here is the first attempt to delineate the role of ORF4 in
adaptive evolution.
Author(s) Details
Zoya Shafat
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences,
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India.
Please see the link:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/mono/978-81-976007-3-9/CH5
