A simple perusal of the literature shows the importance of viral research in elucidating such fundamental processes as DNA replication. Indeed, given the current deadly pandemic resulting from the coronavirus, SARS‐CoV‐2, it is clear that the field of virology is, by no means, “retro.” As recently as 2003, the virology community was rocked by the paradigm‐shifting discovery of a giant double‐stranded DNA virus that infects amoebae. This virus, known as Mimivirus, is larger than some bacteria. Remarkably, its genome encodes for nearly 1000 proteins, some of which are involved in the biosynthesis of unusual sugars including L‐rhamnose. In this paper we describe the high resolution X‐ray structure of one of these enzymes, namely L780, which is involved in the biosynthesis of L‐rhamnose. Importantly, the structure reported represents the first model of a viral UDP‐L‐rhamnose synthase and thus provides new details into these fascinating proteins. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pro.3928

对文献的简单阅读显示了病毒研究在阐明DNA复制等基本过程中的重要性。确实，鉴于目前冠状病毒SARS-CoV-2导致的致命大流行，显然病毒学领域绝不是“复古”的。早在2003年，病毒学界就被感染变形虫的巨型双链DNA病毒的范式转移发现所震撼。该病毒称为Mimivirus，比某些细菌大。值得注意的是，它的基因组编码了近1000种蛋白质，其中一些参与了非常规糖（包括鼠李糖）的生物合成。在本文中，我们描述了其中一种酶，即L780的高分辨率X射线结构，它参与了L-鼠李糖的生物合成。重要的是，报道的结构代表了病毒UDP-L-鼠李糖合酶的第一个模型，因此为这些引人入胜的蛋白提供了新的细节。https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pro.3928