Scientists determined the atomic structure by cryo-electron microscopy of a complex between the Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV), a major vine pathogen responsible for short knot disease and a fragment of neutralizing antibody to camelids commonly called Nanobody. Knowledge of this structure helps to better understand how the Nanobody acts to neutralize the virus in the plant and reveals the bypass mechanism involving surface mutations of the virus. This collaborative work between the teams of Christophe Ritzenthaler, Gérard Demangeat and Bruno Klaholz, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 5, 2020.
When structural biology makes it possible to visualize how a Nanobody neutralizes a plant virus!
