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The worldwide attention on the SARS-CoV-2 virus has emphasized the dearth of analytical methodologies for rapid and cost-effective identification and characterization of viral RNA. Many virus families, including pathogenic varieties such as coronaviruses, human retroviruses, and influenza, are RNA viruses, meaning their genetic material occurs in the form of RNA instead of DNA. When these viruses infect host cells, the viral RNA package hijacks the infected cell’s molecular machinery and begins producing its own viral molecules, which eventually overwhelm the cell, releasing new viral molecules to infect other cells in the system.
Almost 20 years ago, an RNA virus now known as SARS-CoV-1 spread through the human population killing nearly 775 people who suffered from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that the virus caused. Since 2012, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), another disease caused by an RNA coronavirus, has killed more than 850 people, approximately ...
