Attachment and persistence of noroviruses in the food environment: a structure-function study

今天，与食物有关的病毒感染是食品和卫生部门的一个主要关切。这些感染在世界各地引起广泛的发病率，并造成相当大的经济损失。已经提出了几种假设来解释诺如病毒（NoV）相对于其他肠道病毒在大量肠胃炎病例中的优势。我们之前的工作让我们假设，食品行业中NoV的高发病率与其粘附在不同食品和食品接触面上并长时间存在的能力直接相关。然而，在这种情况下，NoV附着和持续存在的物理化学和分子机制仍然未知。提出的科学计划的总体目标是利用多学科方法（化学，物理，生物和分子）阐明NoV病毒衣壳的结构特征与其附着在食物和食物接触面上的能力之间的关系。我们的方法将基于自组装成“类NoV颗粒”（NoVLP）的重组NoV衣壳蛋白的使用，这一策略已经产生了关于NoV的有价值的信息。在目前提出的研究中，我们将采用类似的方法，以获得新的基础科学数据，这些数据将阐明与表面上的NoV附着和持久性有关的现象。这些数据将为实施最有效的战略以减少食品部门的NoV发病率提供合理依据。因此，可以配制冲洗和消毒产品，以消除在整个食品生产和分销链的各个阶段处理和加工过程中附着在食品上的肠道病毒。

Food-related viral infections today are a major concern in the food and health sectors. These infections cause widespread morbidity throughout the world and lead to considerable economic losses. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the preponderance of noroviruses (NoV) compared to other enteric viruses involved in the huge numbers of cases of gastroenteritis. Our previous work led us to hypothesize that the high incidence of NoV in the food sector is linked directly with its ability to adhere to different foods and food contact surfaces and persist there for long periods of time. However, the physicochemical and molecular mechanisms by which NoV attach and persist in this context remain unknown. The overall aim of the scientific program proposed is to elucidate, using a multidisciplinary approach (chemical, physical, biological and molecular), the relationship between the structural characteristics of the NoV viral capsid and its ability to attach to foods and food contact surfaces. Our approach will be based on the use of recombinant NoV capsid protein that self-assembles into "NoV-like particles" (NoVLP), a strategy that has yielded valuable information on NoV in general. In the research now being proposed, we shall adopt a similar approach in order to obtain new fundamental scientific data that will shed light on phenomena associated with NoV attachment and persistence on surfaces. These data will provide a rational basis for implementing the most effective strategies for reducing the incidence of NoV in the food sector. Rinsing and disinfection products could thus be formulated to eliminate enteric viruses that become attached to foods during handling and processing at all stages throughout the food production and distribution chain.