Coronavirus has a mutation similar to HIV, which can increase the likelihood of its penetration into human cells by 1000 times compared with the SARS / SARS virus (ProFinance.ru: Severe acute respiratory syndrome). This was written by the Hong Kong South China Morning Post, citing a new study by Nankai University.
This discovery can not only explain how the infection spreads, but also discover its origin and find the most optimal way to deal with it. Scientists have discovered that SARS enters the body by fusing with the ACE2 receptor protein on the cell membrane. Early studies of coronavirus, which 80% repeats the genetic structure of SARS, showed that it can act in much the same way.
However, healthy people have very limited reserves of ACE2 receptor protein, and this has partially helped limit the spread of the SARS epidemic in 2002-2203, affecting about 8,000 people around the world.
Other highly contagious viruses, including HIV and Ebola, target the furin enzyme, which acts as a protein activator in the human body. Many proteins are inactive or inactive at the time of production, and become active only in the case of “cutting” in certain places.
Scientists at Nankai University studied the genome sequence of the new coronavirus and found in it a section of mutated genes similar to HIV and Ebola, which are not in SARS.
“This discovery suggests that the new 2019-nCov coronavirus could be very different from SARS in terms of the pathway of infection,” the researchers wrote in a study. “This virus can use the packaging mechanisms of other viruses, such as HIV.”
Experts suggest that such a mutation can create a structure known as the cleavage site in the protein spike of a new coronavirus. The virus uses an outreach protein to cling to a host cell, but usually this protein is inactive. The task of the cleavage site is to trick the victim’s furin protein and force it to activate a protein spike that will trigger “direct synthesis” of the virus’s membranes and human cells.
“Compared to SARS, this method of virus penetration into the body is 100-1000 times more effective,” the study authors conclude.
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