HOUSTON: Scientists have used virus-like particles to predict how environmental factors affect the survival of the novel coronavirus on surfaces, and found that the COVID-19 virus may remain infectious longer as temperatures drop in winter.
According to the study, published in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, virus-like particles, or VLPs, "faithfully mimic the external structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus."
The researchers from the University of Utah in the US said the VLPs are empty shells made of the same lipids and three types of proteins as present in an active SARS-CoV-2 virus, but without its genetic material RNA that causes infections.