The influenza virus model has been revised

Influenza viruses exchange genetic information through "windows"

Semyon Kvasha, Copper news, based on EurekAlert! – 50-year-old flu virus model revamped, revealing pandemic prediction possibilities

Scientists from Pittsburgh have remade the model of the flu virus that has existed unchanged since the seventies. A new study has discovered a way in which different strains of the virus exchange genetic information and thus create new varieties of the disease.

By understanding how this mechanism works, scientists can predict the emergence of new strains, develop effective vaccines and come up with new ways to prevent the spread of the disease.

The flu has been around for many centuries and poses a serious danger to humanity. More people died from the "Spanish flu" epidemic that occurred after the First World War than from the war itself. Tens of millions of people are infected with influenza every year (usually in winter).

"Although influenza has been affecting humanity for hundreds of years and poses a significant threat to public health, we still know surprisingly little about influenza pandemics," said senior author of the study Seema S. Lakdawala, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh. "Our discovery may shed light on how the virus is constantly evolving and pave the way for new vaccines and antiviral drugs."

The fact is that the genome of the influenza virus is a single–stranded RNA molecule of eight segments packed in a nucleoprotein envelope. Since the seventies, it was believed that the shell covers the RNA, roughly speaking, with an even layer. And Lakdavala and her team first suggested that there should be open areas for viruses to exchange genetic information, and then managed to prove it using complex microscopy and a process called "high-throughput RNA sequencing using cross-precipitation" ("high-throughput sequencing of RNA by crosslinking immunoprecipitation") of two strains of influenza A, including the 2009 pandemic strain H1N1. The study was published in the journal Nuclear Acids Research (Lee et al., Genome-wide analysis of influenza viral RNA and nucleoprotein association).

This is actually a huge discovery that will require further long–term research - first to confirm that influenza viruses really exchange genetic information through "windows" exposing RNA chains, and then to understand how we can use this in the fight against our eternal enemies. Maybe it will be possible to predict how the virus will reassemble before the next season and create a targeted vaccine that, for a change, will be effective against a new strain of the virus. Secondly, it may be possible to use these "windows" to fight the virus, maybe it will become less contagious or less dangerous. In any case, this story needs to be followed.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  14.07.2017