Coronavirus makes itself more contagious with special tactics
Published: Wednesday, Nov 15th 2023, 10:30
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The coronavirus hijacks a cell mechanism to become more contagious. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) have uncovered this infection tactic.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, focused on the virus's spike protein, which enables it to enter human cells, EPFL announced on Wednesday.
The virus takes control of an enzyme called ZDHHC20. This enzyme marks proteins, including the spike protein of the coronavirus, with small fat molecules. This is crucial for the virus to fuse with its target cells.
Optimized hijacked enzyme
In the new study, the researchers were able to show that the virus optimizes ZDHHC20. Specifically, it changes the genetic transcription of the enzyme, i.e. it modifies the genetic blueprint of the enzyme. This change results in the enzyme produced containing 67 additional amino acids.
This genetic "optimization" enables the enzyme to increase the lipid-adding activity on the spike protein of the virus 37-fold. This in turn leads to greatly increased infectivity.
This discovery could ultimately help to develop more effective treatments against the coronavirus, according to the EPFL. The researchers also suspect that other viruses also use this tactic to become more contagious.
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