The Naturally Occurring m1A RNA Modification Can Be Efficiently Incorporated into RNA by SARS-CoV-2 RdRp

Abstract

When it is in the template RNA, the naturally occurring m1A epitranscriptomic RNA modification was recently reported to be able to stop the RNA polymerization reaction catalyzed by the RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2. In this report, we report that m1A via its triphosphate form (m1ATP) can be incorporated into RNA by the same RdRp. These two findings point a new direction for antiviral drug development based on m1A for combatting COVID-19. More broadly, it is possible that the large pool of epigenetic RNA as well as DNA modifications could serve as a treasury for drug discovery aimed at combating various infectious and other diseases.