The research should lead to new strategies to attack this fortress and prevent disease. “Coronaviruses use infected cells to multiply themselves and make new virus particles,” says Montse Bárcena, researcher at the Department of Cell and Chemical Biology. To copy their genome, coronaviruses hijack membranes in our cells and build special compartments with them.
These closed chambers serve as a shelter from the cell’s defense mechanisms, making it easier for the virus to spread. With the aforementioned Open Competition subsidy of 700,000 euros, Bárcena and colleagues are going to find out exactly how this shelter came about and works.
Coronaviruses
Researchers recently discovered that there is a special opening in the membrane envelope of the coronavirus control room. Bárcena: “This means that the viral genome is transported from its hiding place to another part of the cell, where it is packaged into new virus particles.” The new virus particles then leave the cell to infect other cells.
Then the whole process starts all over again. “We now want to understand how this passageway is constructed and how it works exactly. These insights will hopefully lead to new strategies to attack these types of virus hiding places and thus prevent virus replication and disease”, says Eric Snijder, Professor of Molecular Virology.
New treatments
Bárcena and Snijder use various advanced techniques, including biochemical studies and cryo-electron microscopy, which make the smallest parts of a cell visible. “This takes our knowledge of coronavirus replication to the next level, crucial for developing new antiviral treatments,” says Bárcena.
In 2021, researchers from an international consortium had succeeded for the first time in viewing and understanding the molecular origins of recombination in viruses. The research demonstrated at the molecular level how new virus variants can arise.