Federal district of brasilia, Civil police in Brasília, Brazil

Sao Paulo, Nov 10 For the first time, scientists have shown that infection by Covid virus changes the functioning of host cell RNA, providing clues as to how different variants can escape the immune system, and serve as a basis for the development of novel treatments.Researchers at Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil arrived at this conclusion by analyzing 13 datasets obtained during four studies of viral, human and animal cell RNA.The study, published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, examined the epitranscriptome of Vero cells (derived from monkeys) and human Calu-3 cells by direct RNA sequencing.An epitranscriptome is the collection of biochemical modifications of cell RNA, such as methylation."Our first important finding in this study was that infection by SARS-CoV-2 increases the level of m6a, a type of methylation, in host cells compared with non-infected cells," Marcelo Briones, an author of the article, told Agencia FAPESP.The study was a continuation of an earlier genomic analysis published in 2021, where the researchers analyzed the methylation pattern in SARS-CoV-2 virus."Methylation has two functions in viruses. It regulates protein expression, and it defends the virus against the action of interferon, a potent antiviral substance produced by the host organism," Briones said.The team also discovered that different strains of the virus displayed variations in the sequences of nitrogenous bases in their nucleotides."Some strains may be much more methylated than others. If so, they can proliferate better inside host cells," Briones said.After completing their investigation of how SARS-CoV-2 modifies m6A in host cells, the scientists' next step will be to analyse the stored data in search of a correlation between viral RNA methylation levels and the number of viruses released from each infected cell, known as viral burst size."The more methylated the viruses, the more they grow in the cell cytoplasm and the larger the burst size," Briones explained.The findings pave the way to novel treatments for COVID-19 and repurposing of known drugs, the researchers noted.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Federal District Of BrasiliaFOLLOW

Federal district of brasilia, Latest News

Doha, Nov 25 Two second half goals from Richarlison helped Brazil to begin their group campaign with 2-0 ... ...

Indian Deaflympian and badminton player Jerlin Anika considers ace shuttler PV Sindhu as her idol and uses the same ... ...

With the start of the FIFA World Cup 2022, football fever has gripped Kerala as several parts of the ... ...

Sao Paulo, Nov 22 A team of Brazilian researchers has discovered that a gene can protect people, even ... ...

San Francisco, Nov 17 Meta-owned WhatsApp on Thursday announced new features for a better end-to-end commerce experience for ... ...

Aurangabad: Six industrialists from the city have been featured in the list of the ‘Richest People in India’ of ... ...

Berlin, Nov 12 Argentina and Brazil will handle the uncertainties coming along with the 2022 FIFA World Cup ... ...

Sao Paulo, Nov 10 For the first time, scientists have shown that infection by Covid virus changes the ... ...