Aug 5, 2020
Researcher Mark Denison has
studied
infectious diseases and specifically coronaviruses for decades
and he explains some unique elements of their daunting
mechanisms.
He discusses
Mark Denison is Director of the
Division of Pediatric
Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University. He’s spent much
of his career working with coronaviruses and was concerned about a
scenario like our current one long before March. He backs up and
explains some general findings about coronaviruses including their
unique capacity for rapid evolution and adaptation, entry,
recruitment of cellular machinery, and so on.
He tells listeners that they have significantly more base pairs
than other RNA viruses. In fact, this is one of the largest RNA
replicating genomes known. Its mechanisms are responsible for
symptoms like recurrent fever causes and vulnerability for
immunodeficiency sufferers.
In 2007, Dr Denison and his team
made a significant discovery about this type of virus after years
of mystification surrounding its ability to regulate itself, as if
it were not error prone, unlike other RNA viruses. They found that
coronaviruses are the only known organisms that encode an
RNA-dependent, RNA-proofreading system. Many organisms have a
proofreading system for copying, but most RNA viruses, like dengue
for example, lack the ability to fix mistakes. They create a crowd
of mutants around them.
Denison explains how this determines the ecology of most RNA
viruses and how the enzyme that proofreads for coronaviruses makes
for a very different ecology and virulence quality. He also
explains the experiments his lab has made on the SARS-CoV-2
“wild-type” virus they’ve worked with to either decrease or
increase its mutation rates as well as connections with therapy
possibilities.
He addresses concerns about flu season and the difficulty in
diagnosing recurrent fever causes when both are an issue. Finally,
he offers a reality check on what we can predict about SARS-CoV-2’s
future in the general population and those with
immunodeficiency.
For more, google his name and
see his lab website: www.vumc.org/denison-lab.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK