Scientists create a special algorithm that detects the major weakness of the Corona virus

The number of coronavirus infections has reached more than 195 million worldwide since the start of the pandemic in December 2019 so far, and the number is constantly rising, with the emergence of new strains of the disease due to the mutations that occur on the virus and its many mutations.

The number of deaths as a result of the virus exceeded 4 million people, and there are currently about 14 million active cases suffering from the disease, of which about 85,000 cases are in a serious and death-threatening condition.

In the absence of an effective treatment capable of eliminating the epidemic, the Covid-19 virus is likely to remain a global burden that threatens the lives of billions of people every day, in addition to the material losses resulting from it, which led to a global economic recession, and this threat is compounded by the almost certainty of That new corona viruses with high epidemic potential will appear in the coming years due to the continuous mutations that occur on the virus.

Vaccines alone will not solve the problem

The many vaccines - which were recently manufactured and produced in different countries of the world, such as the American "Pfizer", the Russian "Sputnik-V", the British "AstraZeneca", and "Sinopharma", gave Chinese Sinopharm) and other vaccines that have already been produced or are currently being produced - the hope of ending the Corona pandemic, but the emergence of many mutations on the virus made the possibility of a new mutation resistant to all these vaccines possible and worrying for scientists around the world, which makes The discovery of a new treatment that works effectively against all mutations of the Corona virus is more important than ever.

In this context, scientists and researchers from the American Chemical Society, headed by Dr. Matthew Shapira - who also works as a professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, Canada - used a specific algorithm designed for this purpose to analyze the viral proteins of 27 mutated types of the Covid-19 virus. In addition to thousands of samples collected from Corona patients, with the aim of working on the production and manufacture of a single treatment capable of dealing with the virus with its various mutations and mutations, regardless of their number, as stated by the association’s platform that published the most important findings in the research.

Scientists have found that there are certain binding pockets in virus proteins that are very necessary for the protein to perform its function to maintain the life of the virus (the island)

Corona pockets

Drugs and therapies often bind to special pockets of virus proteins and then work to kill these organisms. The treatment disrupts the function of the protein that keeps the virus alive.

Scientists can identify these pockets to link drugs from the three-dimensional structures of viral proteins, however, over time, it is possible for a mutation to occur during which viruses mutate from their protein pockets to become ineffective, and this is the dilemma that scientists were facing in producing an effective treatment against the Corona virus.

To solve the problem, scientists found that there are certain binding pockets in virus proteins that are very necessary for the protein to perform its function in maintaining the life of the virus, and these pockets cannot be mutated or mutated, and this is exactly what Matteo Shapira and his colleagues were looking for, which is to find these pockets from Samples collected from Corona patients in order to deliver the drug to them, and link it to them to eliminate the virus with its various mutations.

Algorithms detect deadly virus vulnerabilities

The research team used a computer algorithm designed for this purpose, to identify drug-binding pockets in the three-dimensional structures of 15 "SARS-CoV-2" proteins. Then, the researchers found the corresponding proteins in 27 mutated types of coronavirus and compared them. Its sequence with drug-binding pockets, as the algorithm used discovered two protein pockets in the RNA “RNA” of the Corona virus with its various mutations, which do not undergo any change despite the many mutations of the virus, and scientists called these pockets “NSP” 12" (nsp12), and "nsp 13" (nsp13).

Each of these two proteins is involved in transcribing the RNA of the virus, and the scientists found that the “NSP13” pocket was the most stable across thousands of samples collected from patients with no single mutation in it.

The researchers say that the new anti-viral drugs that target the “NSP12” pocket are currently in the second and third phases of clinical trials, as for the “NSP13” pocket, it is a completely new discovery, and it will be given high priority in the trials of developing drugs and treatments for the eradication. Corona virus permanently in the near future.