ABOVE: A mammalian cell infected with SARS-CoV-2, showing the formation of compartments where viral RNA is replicated (top left) and individual virions exiting the cell (right)
EMILY BRUCE
Viral proteins encoded by SARS-CoV-2 disrupt critical components of human cells’ molecular machinery and disable responses to infection, according to a study published October 8 in Cell. Researchers in the US describe how specific viral proteins bind to human RNAs involved in RNA splicing, protein translation, and protein trafficking, and in doing so suppress the host cell’s coordination of a key antiviral defense known as the type I interferon response.
The study offers a possible mechanistic explanation for the blunted immune responses observed in some COVID-19 patients, says Benjamin Terrier, an immunologist at Cochin Hospital in Paris who was not involved in the work. The researchers “are clearly demonstrating how the virus is able to impair the production of proteins involved in [this ...
