Unraveling the Mechanisms Behind Covid's Increased Infectiousness

Scientists at EPFL have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 manipulates a cellular enzyme called ZDHHC20 to increase its infectivity. The virus triggers a change in the transcription of the gene responsible for this enzyme, resulting in an enzyme with increased lipid-adding activity on the spike protein. This enhances the virus's ability to invade cells and infect the host. The study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 hijacks a pre-existing cell damage response pathway to generate more infectious viruses, providing insights for potential treatments and indicating that other viruses may use similar strategies.