Nat Commun: Breakthrough! Scientists have successfully described the fine structure of viral proteins that could be used to develop new drugs for COVID-19!

August 7, 2020 // -- In a study published in the international journal Nature Communications, scientists from the Czech Academy of Sciences and other institutions have described a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus protein, or promising to help develop new treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
THE COVID-19 induced by SARS-CoV-2 has now transformed the lives of millions or even hundreds of millions of people around the world, a virus that uses RNA to store its own genetic information, and in order to respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection, researchers need to study in detail the structure and function of each single protein in the virus.
Image source: Petra Krafcikova/IOCB PragueSARS-CoV-2 Used to try and evade the immunity of the host body, and to try to convince the cells of the host body that viral RNA is harmless is the installation of caps, a special structure in which RNA begins to assemble; The installation of the
cap-like structure catalyzed the involvement of the Nsp16 coronavirus protein with another viral protein called Nsp10, and in the article, the researchers used X-ray crystallography to identify and analyze the precise structure of the complexes formed by the two proteins (Nsp16-Nsp10).
The results of this paper may help researchers identify the fundamental characteristics of the Nsp16-Nsp10 protein complex, i.e. the protein complex has a deeper "gorge" structure on the surface that binds to viral RNA and begins to install cap-like structures. At the same time, this special "canyon" structure can also be targeted by inhibitors that inhibit the Nsp16-Nsp10 protein complex, thus opening up the assembly of complete cap structures, and may help develop new drugs to fight multiple coronavirus infections in the future.
researcher Evzen Boura says hundreds of research teams are now trying to figure out how SARS-CoV-2 hides its RNA from immune attacks by host cells, and we've made ground-breaking research using X-ray crystallography to identify specific structures of viral enzymes that respond to inhibitors.
the results of this paper, researchers will also develop more new targeted drugs that can effectively treat COVID-19.
() Original sources: Krafcikova, P., Silhan, J., Nencka, R. et al. Structure analysis of SARS-CoV-2 methyltransferase complex involved in RNA cap creation to sinefungin. Nat Commun 11, 3717 (2020).doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17495-9.