Covid-19 virus tricks immune system with camouflage: Here’s How

Team Udayavani, Jul 27, 2020, 11:03 AM IST

A team of scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found out what makes SARS-CoV-2, so infectious. Scientists claim that the virus is capable of sneaking into our cells.

The virus produces an enzyme called nsp16, which it then uses to modify its messenger RNA cap. It is said that nsp16, fools our cells into thinking it’s supposed to be there. The modifications by the virus serve as a camouflage

Yogesh Gupta, a co-author of the study from UT Health San Antonio, said, “ It is a camouflage. Because of the modifications, which fool the cell, the resulting viral messenger RNA is now considered as part of the cell’s own code and not foreign”

Now, as the scientists have discovered the trick of the virus, it will be easy to develop antiviral medications that block it from happening.

The research was published in the journal Nature Communications