28. Coronavirus 2 Flashcards
why are spikes under immune selection?
immune pressure from Ab causes spikes to mutate
initial monoclonal antibody therapy
used COVID-19 convalescent plasma that has Ab from patient who had recovered from infection
2 examples of therapeutics MAb
- Bamlanivimab
- Bebtelovimab
describe Bamlanivimab
used as early therapy but the virus evolved so became ineffective
describe bebtelovimab
used as early therapy for patients with high risk of disease progression
3 benefits of MAb therapies
- good safety
- moderate efficacy
- good for emergency use when no drugs or vaccines are available
3 downsides of MAb therapies
- resistance mutations in spike
- variants have many mutations that make Ab not effective
- vaccines are better
what was another consideration that had to be made in addition to developing a vaccine that allows the body to make spike proteins?
had to make sure the immune system didn’t react to mRNA
what are the 2 fates of genomic +RNA
- +RNA copied into -RNA for replication
- +RNA copied into subgenomic -RNA
role of subgenomic RNA
to make structural and accessory proteins
mechanism of producing subgenomic -RNA
when viral RNA pol makes -RNA, it can stop at TRS-B btwn each protein and switch back to the leader TRS-L, giving short pieces of -RNA
what does TRS stand for?
transcription regulatory system
4 proteins in RNA replication/transcription complex
- NSP7
- NSP8
- NSP12
- NSP13
what is the most important protein in RNA replication/transcription complex?
NSP12 –> RdRP
role of NSP13?
sits at the top of the complex –> RNA helicase to open up dsRNA for RNA synthesis
what is the role of NSP14? why do we need it?
NSP14 = proofreader
needed bc long genome allows for mutations
what is the co-factor for NSP14?
NSP10
2 activities of NSP14
- 3’ to 5’ EXOribonuclease
- adds methyl group to cap on mRNA
why does the viral RNA have a cap? (2)
- improve viral protein translation
- avoid host immune detection
what are the 2 viral RNA capping enzymes?
both add a methyl:
nsp14 –> guanine-N7 methyltransferase
nsp16 –> 2’ methyltransferase