New study finds the Achilles heel of the coronavirus

According to a new paper published online in the "Science" magazine on the 13th, a research team from the Swiss University of Technology Zurich, the University of Berne, the University of Lausanne and the University of Cork from Ireland found the coronavirus including the new coronavirus.

The virus needs to infect cells in order to replicate itself, then infect other cells, and further infect other individuals.

For healthy cells that are not infected with the virus, the ribosome moves along the RNA "step by step", reading three RNA letters at a time.

The occurrence of "frameshift" in healthy cells can cause cellular protein dysfunction.

Therefore, because “frameshift” is essential for viruses, any compound that inhibits “frameshift” by targeting RNA folding may be used as a drug for the treatment of infection.

Through complex biochemical experiments, the researchers managed to capture ribosomes at the "frameshift" site of the new coronavirus RNA genome.

Previous studies have reported that fluoroquinolones can inhibit the "frameshift" efficiency of new coronaviruses and other coronaviruses.