UC Irvine infectious disease researchers have uncovered components of the SARS coronavirus – which triggered a major outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2002-03 – that allow it to take over host cells in order to replicate.
This insight is critical for a full understanding of any outbreaks caused by such viruses and may prove beneficial in the development of therapies not only for human coronavirus infections but for other pathogenic illnesses as well. Study results appear online in the July/August issue of mBio.
Megan Angelini, a graduate student in Professor Michael Buchmeier's laboratory in the Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at UC Irvine, and colleagues found that three proteins in the SARS coronavirus – nsp3, nsp4 and nsp6 – have the ability to hijack a host cell's internal membranes and utilize them to make more virus.
"Understanding how the virus uses the host cell to reproduce itself could lead to potential therapies for these kinds of pathogens," said Buchmeier, who is also deputy director of the Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense & Emerging Infectious Diseases at UC Irvine.
Additionally, he said, since membrane rearrangement is a tactic employed by all known positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses, including those responsible for polio and dengue fever, this work adds to that body of knowledge.
Although the majority of infections caused by coronaviruses in humans are relatively mild, the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003 and the emergence last fall of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus highlight their ability to potentially infect millions around the globe.
Explore further: Saudi declares new death from MERS virus
More information: mbio.asm.org/content/4/4/e00524-13
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UC Irvine infectious disease researchers have uncovered components of the SARS coronavirus – which triggered a major outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2002-03 – that allow it to take over host cells in order to replicate.
This insight is critical for a full understanding of any outbreaks caused by such viruses and may prove beneficial in the development of therapies not only for human coronavirus infections but for other pathogenic illnesses as well. Study results appear online in the July/August issue of mBio.
Megan Angelini, a graduate student in Professor Michael Buchmeier's laboratory in the Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at UC Irvine, and colleagues found that three proteins in the SARS coronavirus – nsp3, nsp4 and nsp6 – have the ability to hijack a host cell's internal membranes and utilize them to make more virus.
"Understanding how the virus uses the host cell to reproduce itself could lead to potential therapies for these kinds of pathogens," said Buchmeier, who is also deputy director of the Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense & Emerging Infectious Diseases at UC Irvine.
Additionally, he said, since membrane rearrangement is a tactic employed by all known positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses, including those responsible for polio and dengue fever, this work adds to that body of knowledge.
Although the majority of infections caused by coronaviruses in humans are relatively mild, the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003 and the emergence last fall of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus highlight their ability to potentially infect millions around the globe.
Explore further: Saudi declares new death from MERS virus
More information: mbio.asm.org/content/4/4/e00524-13
Medical Xpress on facebook
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Saudi declares new death from MERS virus
Jun 24, 2013
A Saudi man has died from the MERS virus, bringing the kingdom's death toll from the SARS-like infection to 34, the ministry of health said on Monday.
Death toll from SARS-like virus hits 27
May 29, 2013
The global death toll from a SARS-like virus has risen to 27, the World Health Organization said Wednesday after three patients died in hard-hit Saudi Arabia and another in France.
Scientists make new discoveries in the transmission of viruses between animals and humans
Aug 12, 2013
Outbreaks such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS) have afflicted people around the world, yet many people think these trends are on the decline.
Saudi Arabia confirms 2nd case of SARS-like virus
Nov 05, 2012
(AP)—Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry has confirmed that a second person in the kingdom has contracted a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to three the number of those sickened by it in the Gulf region in recent ...
Cell response to new coronavirus unveils possible paths to treatments
Apr 30, 2013
NIH-supported scientists used lab-grown human lung cells to study the cells' response to infection by a novel human coronavirus (called nCoV) and compiled information about which genes are significantly disrupted ...
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3 hours ago
Health officials called Thursday for urgent action to tackle "alarming" rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Myanmar where nearly 9,000 people catch the strain of the infectious disease each year.
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4 hours ago
A health scourge once considered to be largely contained in the United States has made an alarming resurgence in parts of the country. Recent tuberculosis outbreaks – including an episode in South Carolina ...
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5 hours ago
A University of Colorado Boulder faculty member will travel to Africa later this month to test a mobile smartphone technology developed by his team to rapidly detect and track natural carcinogens, including ...
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5 hours ago
(Medical Xpress)—A study exploring the frequency of chlamydia antibodies among young women – a marker for current and past infection – found this increased between 1993 and 2002, and then declined from ...
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