MOSQUITO PROTEIN AEG12

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Mosquito protein inhibits number of viruses, raises hope against Covid too.

Concept :

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, according to scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their collaborators.
The researchers found that AEG12 works by destabilizing the viral envelope, breaking its protective covering.
Although the protein does not affect viruses that do not have an envelope, such as those that cause pink eye and bladder infections, the findings could lead to therapeutics against viruses that affect millions of people around the world.
The research was published online in PNAS.
Scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH, used X-ray crystallography to solve the structure of AEG12.