https://science.sciencemag.org/conte...e.abf3546.full
From a German press release (translated):
Researchers - including those from ETH Zurich - have found a weak point in the coronavirus.
The reproduction of the pathogen is inhibited if a certain process is disturbed. This discovery may lead to the development of a drug that attacks all variants of the coronavirus.
The magic word is "frame shifting": During the step-by-step reading of the virus' blueprint from ribonucleic acid (RNA), the ribosome - the cell's own protein factory - occasionally "miscounts" and omits isolated elements. This rarely happens in healthy cells, because an incorrectly read and copied sequence results in non-functional proteins.
"We found that the coronavirus has a very unique characteristic - which is also its weak point. Instead of reading the virus information in three-letter groups, the coronavirus genome slips at a certain place when it is read and only a two-letter group is read," explains Nenad Ban, Professor of Molecular Biology at ETH Zurich.
This is where one could start. For example with drugs that prevent the "slipping" during reading and thus stop the reproduction of the virus. Because this slipping only happens with the coronavirus, drugs could be used in a very targeted way and could also be effective against viral mutations. This is because the reproduction process of the virus is attacked at its core.
From a German press release (translated):
Researchers - including those from ETH Zurich - have found a weak point in the coronavirus.
The reproduction of the pathogen is inhibited if a certain process is disturbed. This discovery may lead to the development of a drug that attacks all variants of the coronavirus.
The magic word is "frame shifting": During the step-by-step reading of the virus' blueprint from ribonucleic acid (RNA), the ribosome - the cell's own protein factory - occasionally "miscounts" and omits isolated elements. This rarely happens in healthy cells, because an incorrectly read and copied sequence results in non-functional proteins.
"We found that the coronavirus has a very unique characteristic - which is also its weak point. Instead of reading the virus information in three-letter groups, the coronavirus genome slips at a certain place when it is read and only a two-letter group is read," explains Nenad Ban, Professor of Molecular Biology at ETH Zurich.
This is where one could start. For example with drugs that prevent the "slipping" during reading and thus stop the reproduction of the virus. Because this slipping only happens with the coronavirus, drugs could be used in a very targeted way and could also be effective against viral mutations. This is because the reproduction process of the virus is attacked at its core.
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