Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

SARS-CoV-2 mimics a host protein to bypass defences

It emerges that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has evolved to mimic one of the histone proteins that package DNA in the cell nucleus. This mimicry leads to disrupted gene transcription and a diminished antiviral response.
  1. Lisa Thomann

    1. Lisa Thomann is at the Institute of Virology and Immunology, Bern and Mittelhäusern 3012, Switzerland, and in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Volker Thiel

    1. Volker Thiel is at the Institute of Virology and Immunology, Bern and Mittelhäusern 3012, Switzerland, and in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, and in the Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Our cells must react swiftly and efficiently to combat viral infections. In retaliation, viruses have evolved cunning strategies to interfere with or bypass the defence machinery of host cells. Writing in Nature, Kee et al.1 reveal one such strategy for SARS-CoV-2 — mimicking the histone proteins around which DNA is packaged in the cell nucleus as chromatin. This mimicry disrupts the host cell’s ability to regulate gene expression and respond to infection effectively. So far, histone mimicry has been demonstrated for a handful of viruses2, but this is the first conclusive evidence of this strategy being used by a member of the coronavirus family.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 610, 262-263 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02930-2

References

  1. Kee, J. et al. Nature 610, 381–388 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Tarakhovsky, A. & Prinjha, R. K. J. Exp. Med. 215, 1777–1787 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Frieman, M. B. et al. in The Nidoviruses: Toward Control of SARS and Other Nidovirus Diseases (Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 581) (eds Perlman, S. & Holmes, K. V.) 149–152 (Springer, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Rohaim, M. A., El Naggar, R. F., Clayton, E. & Munir, M. Microb. Pathog. 150, 104641 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Asthana, A., Gaughan, C., Dong, B., Weiss, S. R. & Silverman, R. H. mBio 12, e01781-21 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Lee, S. et al. Nature 599, 283–289 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Zazhytska, M. et al. Cell 185, 1052–1064 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Hadjadj, J. et al. Science 369, 718–724 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Blanco-Melo, D. et al. Cell 181, 1036–1045 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Josefowicz, S. Z. et al. Mol. Cell 64, 347–361 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Zinzula, L. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 538, 116–124 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hasan, M. Z., Islam, S. & Matsumoto, K. Sci. Rep. 11, 16814 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Rashid, F., Dzakah, E. E., Wang, H. & Tang, S. Virus Res. 296, 198350 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Young B. E. et al. Lancet 396, 603–611 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links