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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Microbiol. 2008 Feb;6(2):132. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro1824

Figure 2. Molecular mimicry of human complement regulators by viruses.

Figure 2

Certain orthopox viruses and herpes viruses express proteins that closely mimic the structure and function of human regulators of complement activation. This structural similarity is illustrated for vaccinia virus complement-control protein (VCP; Protein Data Bank (PDB) code: 1G40 (REF. 27)) (a) and human decay-accelerating factor (DAF; PDB code: 1OJV102) (b), both of which have four short consensus repeat (SCR) domains. These SCRs (or complement control protein modules) are common structural motifs in complement components (for example, complement receptors and regulators) and other proteins (such as selectins).