Viral Packaging Breakthrough Could Lead to New Antivirals, Gene Therapies

Researchers at San Diego State University and Michigan State University are revealing new details about how viruses carefully pack their genetic material. This discovery could help scientists design better antivirals and gene therapies.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the team’s findings explain how a mix of molecular properties allows viruses to specifically collect their RNA into protein shells called capsids. They ignore the host cell’s own genetic material during this process. capsids act like molecular armor, protecting a virus’s genetic material and helping it enter host cells.

Understanding how viruses package their RNA with such high accuracy-some achieve over 99% accuracy-could enable scientists to create their own capsids in the lab and use them as powerful tools.

“From a health outlook, synthetic capsids can be used to create antivirals that target RNA packaging, which impacts humans, plant and animal agriculture, and veterinary medicine.”

Kristin Parent, director of MSU’s Cryo-EM Facility and author of the latest paper

This breakthrough resulted from a collaboration between researchers at Michigan State University and the Garmann lab at San Diego State university. The Garmann lab studies the complex molecular processes behind viral replication, infection, and evolution.

“Some RNA viruses are built from fewer than 200 molecules,” said Rees Garmann, an assistant professor in SDSU’s department of Chemistry and biochemistry and senior author of the new study.

“And yet they are able to accomplish remarkable feats, like replicating in astronomical numbers and building precisely structured shells.”