The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become ag lobal threat. Understanding the underlying mechanisms and developing innovativet reatments are extremely urgent. G-quadruplexes (G4s) are important noncanonical nucleic acid structures with distinct biofunctions. Four putative G4-forming sequences (PQSs) in the SARS-CoV-2 genome were studied. One of them (RG-1), which locates in the coding sequence region of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (N), has been verified to form astable RNAG4structure in live cells.G4-specific compounds,such as PDP (pyridostatin derivative), can stabilize RG-1 G4 and significantly reduce the protein levels of SARS-CoV-2 Nb y inhibiting its translation both in vitro and in vivo.This result is the first evidence that PQSs in SARS-CoV-2 can form G4 structures in live cells,a nd that their biofunctions can be regulated by aG4-specific stabilizer.This finding will provide new insights into developing novel antiviral drugs against COVID-19.
Although
broad-spectrum antibacterial agents have been developed
for antibacterial treatment, the balance of microbial flora may break
and this usually results in increasing resistance. To this end, developing
simple and effective strain-selective bactericidal strategies are
demanding. Herein we designed an intelligent Gram-selective antimicrobial
system based on MoS2 and a photoacid molecule. This system
can be modulated by light for surface charge conversion from negative
to positive and simultaneously activation of the enzymatic activity
of MoS2 by changing pH. In consideration of the different
cell wall composition and structures of bacterial strains, Gram-selective
antibacterial has been accomplished simply by controlling the light
irradiation time. Taken together, we provided a simple and efficient
photoregulated method to realize strain-selective antibacterial.
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