Reduction of porcine parvovirus infectivity in the presence of protecting osmolytes

Osmolytes are natural compounds found in the cells of many organisms that stabilize intracellular proteins against environmental stresses. Protecting osmolytes can promote protein folding, whereas denaturing osmolytes have the opposite effect. A variety of osmolytes were tested for their antiviral activity against porcine parvovirus (PPV). PPV is a non-enveloped, icosahedral, single-strand DNA virus. We have discovered two protecting osmolytes, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and glycine that reduce the infectivity of PPV by four logs (99.99%). We hypothesize that both osmolytes stabilize viral capsid proteins and prevent them from assembling into viable virus particles. The advantage of the antiviral compounds found is that they can be applied post-infection, which increases their potential to serve as a therapeutic drug. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.