As scientists around the world work diligently to find a way to conquer COVID-19, a group of researchers in Arkansas have taken the lead in discovering why the infection rate of COVID-19 is so high.
At the University of Arkansas in the lab of Mahmoud Moradi and his colleagues, the researchers worked to find out why SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — is so much more infectious than SARS-CoV-1, which caused the 2003 SARS outbreak.
“We discovered in these simulations that SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 have completely different ways of changing their shape, and on different time scales,” Moradi said. “SARS-CoV-1 moves faster, it activates and deactivates, which doesn’t give it as much time to stick to the human cell because it’s not as stable. SARS-CoV-2, on the other hand, is stable and ready to attack.”
The research conclusions could lead to designing therapeutics that alter the dynamics and make the inactive state more stable, thus deactivating SARS-CoV-2, Moradi said.
SOURCE: Newswise February 22, 2021