Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have tried to understand and track SARS-CoV-2 without a proper parts list. Much of the research emphasis has.
By Jim Shelton
January 28, 2021
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Left to right; Nicholas Huston, Han Wan, Madison Strine, and Rafael Araujo Tavares working in Anna Marie Pyle’s lab. (Photo: Dan Renzetti)
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have tried to understand and track SARS-CoV-2 without a proper parts list.
Much of the research emphasis has been on proteins such as the “spike” proteins that cover the COVID-19 virus and attach themselves to human cells. Scientists continue to study how these proteins function and interact.
But Yale biochemist Anna Marie Pyle says there is also much to be gained by understanding the RNA of the virus and the structures within it. The “shapes” formed by the RNA in a viral genome influence its efficiency at copying itself, making proteins, and packing into the viral particle, which is a key factor in pathogenicity.