Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : November 13, 2020 9:23 AM IST
The new 3D model of SARS-CoV-2. (Image Credit: KAUST Discovery)
The novel coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2 virus, is a puzzle that researchers and medical professionals around the world are trying to solve. So far, it is understood that SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the same family of viruses that had caused outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) from 2002-2004 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012. Researchers have found that, like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 particles are spherical in shape and have proteins called spikes protruding from their surface. Everyone is now familiar with the spike protein image of the virus. But do you know what the inside of the virus looks like?
Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia have released the most up-to-date illustration of the coronavirus, showing both its external appearance and internal structure. The visualization was created via a 3D model that they had developed using the information from electron microscope images and protein databases.
"Our 3D model demonstrates the current state-of-the-art structure of SARS-CoV-2 at the atomistic level and reveals details of the virus that were previously impossible to see, like how we think nucleocapsid proteins form a rope-like structure inside it," says KAUST research scientist Ond ej Strnad.
New information could be incorporated into the model to provide an up-to-date structure of the virus, he adds.
They hope that this of the new model can help with treatments for Covid-19.
KAUST computer science Ph.D. student Ngan Nguyen claims that their model shows the complete viral ultrastructure known to date, and "not just some arbitrarily placed, incomplete spike proteins on a lipid membrane."
Other available models do not show the interior of the virus, as its details are not currently known, she says.
"Scripps Research Institute, U.S., provided us with the most likely hypothesis for the structure's interior based on current data. If this hypothesis is proven wrong, then we can easily update the model," Nguyen explains.
The team hopes their detailed SARS-CoV-2 model will help reveal aspects of the virus and its structure that could hasten drug discovery for treating COVID-19. Next, they plan to design a user-friendly graphical user interface to make it easy to use.
The SARS-CoV-2 infects humans similar to the virus that caused the 2002 SARS outbreak. The protein spikes bind to receptors on the human cell surface called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The spikes then trick the receptor into opening up a pathway into the cell, which allows the virus to bypass defences and cause COVID-19
The SARS-CoV-2 spike is believed to be 10 to 20 times more likely to bind to ACE2 on human cells than the spike of the 2002 SARS virus. This enables the SARS-CoV-2 to spread more easily from person to person than the earlier virus, according to researchers.
Despite the structural similarities between the two viruses, the antibodies against the 2002 SARS virus could not neutralize the SARS-CoV-2. This means we need antibody-based treatments or vaccine unique to the new virus. Currently, researchers around the world are working on vaccine candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
