COVID-19 treatment: Innovative findings may bring researchers a step closer
12 April, 2020
A new analysis from Cornell University has made a discovery about SARS-CoV-2 that may help researchers develop a proper treatment.
Five researchers from Cornell University on Ithaca, NY, set out to learn more about the structure and mechanisms related to two coronaviruses that contain created turmoil during the past. They are SARS-CoV, the virus that may lead to severe severe respiratory syndrome (SARS), and MERS-CoV, that may result in Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
However in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the scientists - Tiffany Tang, Miya Bidon, Javier Jaimes, Ph.D., Gary Whittaker, Ph.D., and Prof. Susan Daniel - in the near future turned their attention to the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
In their initial, together with current study, the investigators were specifically thinking about the function of the spike health proteins. This is a health proteins that viruses use to transfer their genetic facts into cells, leading to infection.
The mechanism that may hold the answer
In their study, the scientists looked, specifically, at fusion peptides, short-chain amino acids within the spike proteins of the coronaviruses that these were studying.
To infect a cell, the viruses proceed through a multistep procedure called “membrane fusion,” which finally allows them to “inject” their genetic information into the cell they are infecting.
Membrane fusion happens after the virus locates a cell that's vunerable to infection. The virus does this by taking chemical cues from its environment. Finally, the virus attaches to the receptor of the prospective cell via the spike proteins.
At this stage, the fusion peptide, which is a area of the spike proteins, merges with the cell membrane. This varieties an opening that allows the virus to transfer its genetic material in to the cell. This will ensure that the virus can replicate.
The researchers found that calcium ions help the fusion peptide to “carry out its job” and invite coronaviruses - specifically MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV - to infect cells.
A comparison between your fusion peptides of different coronaviruses found that the biological sequences of the fusion peptides within SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 were 93% alike.
This could imply that the mechanism affecting their fusion peptides are also virtually identical.
“What’s really interesting about SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which new virus, SARS-CoV-2, is this specific part of the health proteins, the fusion peptide, is nearly exactly the same found in those 3 viruses,” says Prof. Daniel.
The researchers now desire that their current findings can help scientists understand more about how exactly SARS-CoV-2 can infect individuals, and why the human respiratory tract seems to supply such the right environment because of this virus to replicate.
In addition, the investigators have finally managed to secure financing from the National Institutes of Wellbeing (NIH) to get their efforts to build up an antibody that may end the virus from replicating by simply acting on its fusion peptide.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
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