POTENTIAL ANTIVIRAL DRUG MOLECULES TARGETING THE HYDROPHOBIC POCKET OF ALPHAVIRUS CAPSID PROTEIN

Abstract

Chikungunya fever is an arthropod-born viral disease. In past two decades Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) which belongs to genus alpha virus and family Togaviridae has emerged as a global threat to human kind. Transmission vector of CHIKV are Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus Chikungunya fever is caused by CHIKV and its symptoms vary from mild fever, musculoskeletal pain, rashes to persistent arthralgia. Numerous outbreaks of CHIKV have occurred in past two decades. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine and antiviral drug has been made available to treat this disease. In this study Capsid protein of Chikungunya virus has been targeted with various drug molecules to study their effectiveness to prevent the formation of infectious virion particles. Chikungunya virus Capsid protein was purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography technique.