Figure 4

Three examples of viral mimicry resulting from convergent evolution. The first example is that of the M3 protein mimicking CCL2 in complexing with another CCL2 monomer (ABC), the second being the V protein competing with DDB2 in binding with DDB1 (DEF), and the third case being the G protein targeting the ephrin B2 ligand in similar ways with its native ephrin type-B receptor 4 (GHI). They are shown with the two complexes superimposed (ADG), with a focused view of the matched interfacial residues (BEH), and with just one binding site on the viral protein and that on the host protein it mimics (CFI). In all illustrations the viral protein is colored in blue, and the host protein it displaces is colored in cyan. The human target protein is colored red when bound with the viral protein, and orange when complexed with its cognate binding partner. The small spheres represent the Cα positions of all the interfacial residues present in the original complex, while the large spheres represent those which are structurally equivalent in the virus-host protein complex and in the endogenous complex. Figures are generated by the VMD software [35].