Norovirus replication and antiviral research have made new progress

recently, zhouxi researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences made new progress in norovirus replication and antiviral research, and the results of the research were published online
china.
is a positive-chain RNA virus. The resulting infectious diarrhoea is endemic worldwide, affecting all ages, infecting about 684 million people each year, resulting in more than 1.1 million hospitalizations and up to 210,000 deaths (mainly among children, the elderly and immunosuppressant patients), as well as economic losses of up to $60 billion. There are currently no vaccines or antiviral drugs for norovirus.
in the replication of RNA viruses, virus-coded de-spinases and RNA molecular partners are thought to play an important role in unziping the RNA double strands produced by the replication process and reshaping viral RNA configurations. Currently, most RNA viruses are found to encode their own anti-spinase or RNA molecular partners. However, for norovirus or even cup viruses, whether it encodes the de-lysing vortex or RNA molecular companion has been unknown and has hindered our understanding of the replication mechanisms of such important human viruses.
In this study, Zhouxi team found that the noru virus NS3 protein also has at the same time the function of ATP-dependent RNA lysase, as well as the function of RNA molecular companion that is not dependent on ATP; Further research has found that a small molecule drug approved by the FDA to treat severe muscle weakness syndrome can inhibit the de-spin activity of norovirus NS3 and effectively inhibit norovirus RNA replication at the cellular level.
This work for the first time found norovirus and cupel coding with RNA anti-virase and molecular companion activity of viral proteins, revealing its role and mechanism in norovirus RNA replication, deepening the understanding of this important pathogen virus replication mechanism, but also for the development of anti-norovirus drugs to provide a new way of thinking.
study was supported by the Royal Society and the National Fund Committee Newton Senior Scholars Fund, the National Fund for Outstanding Youth Science, the National Youth 863 Project, the Chinese Academy of Sciences pilot science and technology special. Li Tengfeng, a graduate student in the Zhouxi Research Group, is the first author of the thesis, and Zhouxi Researcher is the author of the communication. Professor Ian Goodfellow of the University of Cambridge, Professor Stephen Curry of Imperial College and Professor Yin Lei of Wuhan University were also involved in the study. (Source: Science Network Lu Wei Chen)