(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) Chinese researchers reveal the fine structure of the world's first new coronavirus
China News Service, Hangzhou, September 16 (Zhang Bin, Wang Rui, Hu Xiaofeng, Pan Lei) On the 16th, the reporter learned from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (hereinafter referred to as the First Hospital of Zhejiang University) that recently, infectious diseases were diagnosed and treated in the First Hospital of Zhejiang University. In cooperation with the research team of Academician Li Lanjuan of the State Key Laboratory and Researcher Li Sai of the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University, the world’s first full-viral three-dimensional fine structure of the real new coronavirus has been revealed, which is important for understanding the biological characteristics of the new coronavirus and vaccine design. , The research and development of antiviral drugs is of great significance.
According to the First Hospital of Zhejiang University, researchers have successfully isolated a virus strain from a severely ill patient with new coronary pneumonia, and cultivated it in vitro and effectively inactivated it.
Through the “high resolution CT scan” of 2294 virus particles, the researchers discovered the clearest true structure of the virus, and analyzed the natural conformation and distribution of the spike protein on the surface of the new coronavirus in situ, so that the fine structure of the new coronavirus was reached. Unprecedented resolution.
Coronavirus is named for its outer corona like a corona. The corona substance on the surface of the virus is called spike protein. Its function is to infect cells and is the "key" for the virus to enter human cells.
The characteristic of the new coronavirus spike protein helps the virus "grab" the cell surface flexibly, and then invade the cell after binding with it, and then infect the human body-this is one of the reasons why it is not easily defeated by antibodies and drugs.
Important progress has also been made in the research on the ribonucleoprotein complex, the core of the new coronavirus.
According to reports, the ribonucleoprotein compound stores all the genetic information of the virus and can regulate the biological characteristics of the virus. It can be described as the "soul of the virus."
In the study, researchers successfully revealed the natural structure and assembly mechanism of the viral cavity ribonucleoprotein complex, and revealed the important reason why the new coronavirus can survive in the human environment for a long time.
It is reported that the above-mentioned research results were published online in the international authoritative academic journal "Cell" on September 14.
The first authors of the research results are the State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Treatment of Zhejiang University First Hospital Yao Hangping and Wu Nanping, and Tsinghua University Song Yutong, Chen Yong, and Xu Jialu. Academician Li Lanjuan and Researcher Li Sai are the corresponding authors.
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