​​SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA

Infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses have been around for a long time. Over the past 18 years, there have been numerous deaths worldwide due to acute respiratory illnesses caused by coronaviruses, including SARS and MERS. The COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 1.35 million lives. This emphasizes the urgent need for new ways to combat coronavirus infections.

Researchers at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (in Poland), the University of Groningen, and the University of Leiden (both in the Netherlands) have analyzed the structure of genomic RNA of SARS-CoV-2 using a variety of advanced technologies. This is the first time that the structure of the entire coronavirus RNA has been determined.
The researchers have modeled the three-dimensional structure of the regions with well-defined compact structure. The study presents one thousand best-scored models for each of the regions modeled, representing the conformational space with probable alternative 3D-configurations. Also, pockets were identified in the RNA structures that could be targeted by small molecules to hamper the function of the viral RNA.

This research was published as a Breakthrough Article in Nucleic Acids Research.