An electron microscope image of kidney cells from an African green monkey infected with Sars-Cov-2 — and the tubes it uses to infect other cells © Dr Elizabeth Fischer/NIH
Dr. Elizabeth Fischer, NIAID/NIHElectron microscopy image of cells from the kidney of a female African green monkey that have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Infected cells produce tentacles known formally as filopodia (orange) extending out from the cell surface to enable budding of viral particles (blue) and infection of nearby cells.
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Scientists have discovered that the virus behind Covid-19 causes the infected cells to grow stringy protruding branches — a highly unusual structure that allows the virus to attack several cells at once.
Researchers led by the University of California San Francisco have released the first ever close-up images of the spaghetti-like tentacles that were taken using an ultra-powerful electron microscope.
“There are long strings that poke holes in other cells and the virus passes through the tube from cell to cell,” said Professor Nevan Krogan, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UCSF who led the project. “Our hypothesis is that these speed up infection,” Prof Krogan said of the “nasty and sinister” branches.
The images taken by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratory in the US and University of Freiburg in Germany will be published in the medical journal Cell on Saturday.
Most viruses do not cause infected cells to grow these tentacles. Even those that do, such as smallpox, do not have as many or the same type of branching as Sars-Cov-2, the virus behind Covid-19.
The discovery has highlighted a number of drugs that could be deployed against the disease, most of which were previously being developed to treat cancer. Prof Krogan said cancers, HIV, or Sars-Cov-2 were all searching for the “Achilles heel of the cell”.
“It totally makes sense there’s an overlap in anticancer drugs and an antiviral effect,” he said.
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/elizabeth-fischer-ma
https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/04/28/capturing-viral-shedding-in-action/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/albums/72157712914621487/
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