This research characterizes extracellular vesicles containing viral RNAs and proteins in betacoronavirus-infected cells, suggesting new insights into viral spread.
In late 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged from Wuhan, China, and reached pandemic levels of spread within a few months. Being the causal agent of a pneumonia-like respiratory infection, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has killed 6,266,459 people worldwide as of May 10, 2022, as reported by John Hopkins University. SARS-CoV-2 is considered to be a BSL-3 agent due to the high transmissibility via aerosolized droplets, therefore limits the facilities that can effectively conduct research with this virus. Coronavirus replication has two unique functions, 1) the use of discontinuous replication to create subgenomic mRNAs (sgmRNAs) and 2) the use of double membrane vesicles (DMV) where genomic and subgenomic replication occurs. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can shuttle viral proteins and RNAs throughout the body. Our study has characterized EVs produced from HCoV-OC43, a BSL-2 level betacoronavirus, infected cells to evaluate how betacoronaviruses influence the release of EVs. We found that EVs released from HCoV-OC43 infected cells contained viral proteins and sgmRNAs which encode for structural proteins critical for virion formation.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
James Erickson (2022) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: