Emerging RNA-centric technologies to probe RNA-protein interactions: importance in decoding the life cycle of positive sense single strand RNA viruses and antiviral discovery

TL;DR

This review discusses new RNA-focused technologies for studying RNA-protein interactions in +ssRNA viruses, which could help in understanding their life cycle and developing antiviral treatments.

Contribution

The paper reviews emerging technologies and their potential to advance antiviral discovery for +ssRNA viruses.

Findings

RNA-protein interactions are crucial for the life cycle and pathogenesis of +ssRNA viruses.

New computational and high-throughput technologies offer better tools for studying these interactions.

These technologies can aid in the development of specific antiviral therapeutics.

Abstract

Positive sense single strand RNA (+ssRNA) viruses are one of the evolutionary successful organisms and many of them pose a significant threat to human health. Diseases caused by +ssRNA viruses such as COVID-19, Flu and acute viral hepatitis are major public health concern worldwide. Therefore, a lot of research is focused at decoding the life cycle of +ssRNA viruses and develop specific antiviral therapeutics against them. Interaction of the viral RNA with virus-encoded proteins and host proteins drives the lifecycle and pathogenesis of +ssRNA viruses. Recent developments in computational and high-throughput omics-based experimental technologies offer the sensitivity and specificity for molecular characterization of these RNA-protein complexes. These are promising tools to revolutionize the field of +ssRNA virus research and pave the way for antiviral discovery. This review summarizes the current scientific resources available to characterize the RNA-protein interactome of +ssRNA viruses and provides an overview of the drug discovery pipeline for developing antivirals against pathogenic +ssRNA viruses.

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