IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

AEG12 Protein  

15th March, 2021 Science and Technology

Context: According to scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), a mosquito protein, called AEG12, strongly inhibits the family of viruses that cause yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Zika, and also weakly inhibits coronaviruses.

 

Details:

  • The researchers found that AEG12 works by destabilising the viral envelope, breaking its protective covering.
  • The protein does not affect viruses that do not have an envelope.
  • The findings, however, could lead to therapeutics against viruses that affect millions of people around the world.
  • Scientists at the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH, used X-ray crystallography to solve the structure of AEG12.
  • AEG12 rips out the lipids (the fat-like portions of the membrane that hold the virus together).

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/mosquito-protein-inhibits-number-of-viruses-raises-hope-against-covid-too-7228366/