XNAzymes targeting the SARS-CoV-2 genome inhibit viral infection

Pehuén Pereyra Gerber, Maria J. Donde, Nicholas J. Matheson and Alexander I. Taylor ()
Additional contact information
Pehuén Pereyra Gerber: University of Cambridge
Maria J. Donde: University of Cambridge
Nicholas J. Matheson: University of Cambridge
Alexander I. Taylor: University of Cambridge

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The unprecedented emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, underscores the need for diagnostic and therapeutic technologies that can be rapidly tailored to novel threats. Here, we show that site-specific RNA endonuclease XNAzymes – artificial catalysts composed of single-stranded synthetic xeno-nucleic acid oligonucleotides (in this case 2’-deoxy-2’-fluoro-β-D-arabino nucleic acid) – may be designed, synthesised and screened within days, enabling the discovery of a range of enzymes targeting SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab, ORF7b, spike- and nucleocapsid-encoding RNA. Three of these are further engineered to self-assemble into a catalytic nanostructure with enhanced biostability. This XNA nanostructure is capable of cleaving genomic SARS-CoV-2 RNA under physiological conditions, and when transfected into cells inhibits infection with authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus by RNA knockdown. These results demonstrate the potential of XNAzymes to provide a platform for the rapid generation of antiviral reagents.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34339-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34339-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34339-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().