Science: The "Killer Enzyme" of Coronavirus

This study was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Science and detailed the structure of a key enzyme in the SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19

This enzyme is called a proofreading ribonuclease (or ExoN), which removes nucleoside antiviral drugs from the RNA of the virus, rendering most antiviral treatments based on nucleoside analogs ineffective

"If we can find a way to inhibit this enzyme, maybe we can use existing nucleoside antiviral therapies to kill the virus and achieve better results

SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, which means that its genetic material is composed of ribonucleic acid

The ExoN enzyme acts as a proofreader, identifying mismatches in viral RNA and correcting errors that occur during RNA synthesis

Yang said that the same process that eliminates replication errors also eliminates the antiviral drugs that are commonly used to fight other RNA viruses (such as HIV, hepatitis C virus, and Ebola virus).

However, Yang and his colleagues used cryo-electron microscopy to study the structure of the enzyme in detail

Original Search: Chang Liu, Wei Shi, Scott T.