Breakthrough in understanding influenza’s protective coat opens path to new treatments

To fight the virus that causes influenza, one of the avenues being explored by scientists is the development of drugs capable of destabilizing its genome, made up of eight RNA molecules. But the challenge is daunting: each RNA molecule is tightly bound to an assembly of proteins which creates a double helix, forming a protective coat that is difficult to manipulate.

For the first time, however, the structure of this protective mantle and its interactions with the virus’ RNA have been described on an atomic scale by scientists from the CNRS and l’Université Grenoble Alpes – a result that has been awaited by the scientific community for almost forty years. The research team has also revealed the precise positioning of the RNA molecules in their protective coat, and the interactions between the two helix strands.

The results have just been published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, and were obtained using biochemical approaches and state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscopy provided by the Integrated Structural Biology, Grenoble (CEA/CNRS/European Molecular Biology Laboratory/Université Grenoble Alpes).

This breakthrough paves the way for the design of new drug molecules capable of binding to the protein coat, weakening viral RNA and inhibiting replication of the influenza virus, whose epidemics affect between 2 and 6 million people in France every winter, and cause around 10,000 deaths in susceptible individuals.