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Chikungunya virus particle, illustration
Chikungunya virus particle capsid, cutaway illustration. The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging mosquito-borne alphavirus that can cause widespread outbreaks of a debilitating arthritis-like human disease. An inner capsid surrounds and protects the genome. Surrounding this inner capsid is a lipid bilayer of transmembrane proteins (white). The outer layer is an icosahedral capsid composed of two glycoproteins E1 and E2. CHIKV invasion of susceptible cells is mediated by these glycoproteins. The E1 glycoprotein (red-orange) participates in cell fusion, whereas the E2 glycoprotein (yellow) binds to cellular receptors.
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