Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has caused worldwide disruption through the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a sobering reminder of the profound impact viruses can have on human well-being. Understanding virus life cycles and interactions with host cells lays the groundwork for exploring therapeutic strategi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152530 |
| _version_ | 1826207970905554944 |
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| author | To, Tsz-Leung Li, Xiaoquan Shu, Xiaokun |
| author_facet | To, Tsz-Leung Li, Xiaoquan Shu, Xiaokun |
| author_sort | To, Tsz-Leung |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has caused worldwide disruption through the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a sobering reminder of the profound impact viruses can have on human well-being. Understanding virus life cycles and interactions with host cells lays the groundwork for exploring therapeutic strategies against virus-related diseases. Fluorescence microscopy plays a vital role in virus imaging, offering high spatiotemporal resolution, sensitivity, and spectroscopic versatility. In this opinion piece, we first highlight two recent techniques, SunTag and StayGold, for the in situ imaging of viral RNA translation and viral assembly. Next, we discuss a new class of genetically encoded fluorogenic protease reporters, such as FlipGFP, which can be customized to monitor SARS-CoV-2’s main (M<sup>pro</sup>) or papain-like (PL<sup>pro</sup>) protease activity. These assays have proven effective in identifying potential antivirals through high-throughput screening, making fluorogenic viral protease reporters a promising platform for viral disease diagnostics and therapeutics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:57:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/152530 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:57:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1525302023-10-28T03:21:43Z Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters To, Tsz-Leung Li, Xiaoquan Shu, Xiaokun The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has caused worldwide disruption through the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a sobering reminder of the profound impact viruses can have on human well-being. Understanding virus life cycles and interactions with host cells lays the groundwork for exploring therapeutic strategies against virus-related diseases. Fluorescence microscopy plays a vital role in virus imaging, offering high spatiotemporal resolution, sensitivity, and spectroscopic versatility. In this opinion piece, we first highlight two recent techniques, SunTag and StayGold, for the in situ imaging of viral RNA translation and viral assembly. Next, we discuss a new class of genetically encoded fluorogenic protease reporters, such as FlipGFP, which can be customized to monitor SARS-CoV-2’s main (M<sup>pro</sup>) or papain-like (PL<sup>pro</sup>) protease activity. These assays have proven effective in identifying potential antivirals through high-throughput screening, making fluorogenic viral protease reporters a promising platform for viral disease diagnostics and therapeutics. 2023-10-27T18:30:49Z 2023-10-27T18:30:49Z 2023-09-27 2023-10-27T10:26:48Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152530 Viruses 15 (10): 2005 (2023) PUBLISHER_CC http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v15102005 Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| spellingShingle | To, Tsz-Leung Li, Xiaoquan Shu, Xiaokun Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters |
| title | Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters |
| title_full | Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters |
| title_fullStr | Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters |
| title_short | Spying on SARS-CoV-2 with Fluorescent Tags and Protease Reporters |
| title_sort | spying on sars cov 2 with fluorescent tags and protease reporters |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152530 |
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