Rest of World News: What happens if a virus does not need to exit the cell in order to spread to neighbouring cells? Can our antibodies be effective against it? Scientist
Scientists recently asked this question for SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19. This highly infectious coronavirus can change human cells, making them fuse with two or more nearby cells. These super-cells, with large merged cell bodies, are excellent viral factories.
Summary
People taking cholesterol-lowering drugs may fare better than others if they catch the novel coronavirus. A new study hints at why: the virus relies on the fatty molecule to get past the cell’s protective membrane.
HHMI scientists are joining many of their colleagues worldwide in working to combat the new coronavirus. They’re developing diagnostic testing, understanding the virus’s basic biology, modeling the epidemiology, and developing potential therapies or vaccines. We will be sharing stories of some of this work.
Researchers engineered cells to carry either a protein (green) from SARS-CoV-2 or its human target ACE2 (magenta). When near each other, the cells’ membranes fused. Researchers think a similar process lets the virus slip into cells. Credit: D. Sanders et al./bioRxiv.org