The scientists of the Weitman Institute and the Israeli Institute of Biological, Chemical and Ecological Sciences found the unique ability of SARS-COV-2 coronavirus to use the molecular mechanisms of infected cells to “break” the immune system of the host and promptly multiply. The article of researchers was published in the Nature magazine.
In the course of the experiment, the Calu-3 cell culture (lung cancer cell line) was infected with the virus. Three, five and eight hours, scientists took contaminated and unreleased cells for sequencing matrix RNA (mRNA) and ribosomal profiling. In the sequencing of mRNA, the primary structure of RNA molecules, which are products of gene activity; Thus, scientists can determine which host genes participate in the process of infection. Ribosomal profiling allows you to find out which RNA molecules interact with ribosomes, allowing to observe the protein synthesis process.
It turned out that the infection with coronavirus, in general, negatively affects the transmission process when RNA and ribosomes are involved in protein synthesis. Secondly, the virus causes rapidly degradation of mRNA in cytozole, suppressing signaling and not allowing the cell to activate immune protection against the pathogen. In addition, SARS-COV-2 suppresses the MRNA transport mechanism from the coder to ribosomes.
According to scientists, this triple strategy seems to be unique to SARS-COV-2, allowing it to rebuild the mechanism of protein synthesis in an infected cell. Signals that the cell tries to send to activate immune protection are not transformed into proteins that further transmit signals, which leads to a slow immune response.