Bacteria could be the key to curing the coronavirus | The NY Journal
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Researchers at the Weizmann Institute compare their discovery to that of antibiotics, noting that it could be the key to creating drugs that cure various viruses, perhaps also coronavius.
Bacteria protect themselves from viruses by attacking them and can teach us how to beat the coronavirus.
Photo:
Rotem Sorek, Weizmann Institute / Courtesy
Bacteria could be the key to curing Covid-19 according to the team from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science that has identified the molecules bacteria produce to protect themselves when they are under attack by viruses.
Research published in the scientific journal Nature indicates that the molecules, which can also be created artificially, have the same ability to fight viruses if they are introduced into infected human cells. So they are testing the theory in human tissue.
An Israeli laboratory, Pantheon Biosciences, has already bought the rights to develop an antiviral medication from this discovery.
The head of the research assured that this discovery could help create treatments that cure different viruses. “And maybe offer a solution for the next pandemic or even this one,” said Rotem Sorek, from Weizmann’s department of Molecular Genetics.
The parallel that he finds between this discovery and that of antibiotics is that in bacteria and fungi there are compounds that are capable of killing or stopping bacterial infections.
In recent years it has been shown, by Sorek and other researchers, that bacteria have very sophisticated immune systems despite their microscopic size. Furthermore, Sorek’s team has discovered that viperin, an enzyme of the mammalian immune system, is also part of the immune system of bacteria.
“Many people are surprised that viruses attack bacteria and that bacteria have their own defense systems,” explained the specialist. “And we have discovered that one of the ways in which bacteria defend themselves against viruses is by making their viperin produce antiviral components, which are small molecules that prevent the virus from multiplying within the bacteria”added.
The team noted that the mechanism that prevents the virus from replicating could also prevent the reproduction of viruses that affect humans.
“It is something that is not yet proven, but we are testing it right now,” Sorek said.
The researchers discovered the components in a large project in which they analyzed the genetic sequences of about 100,000 bacteria and found that hundreds of them generated viperin.
Sorek noted that the discovery is exciting because he discovered a family of molecules and that is what leads him to think that different molecules could be used to fight different types of viruses.
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