CaltechAUTHORS
Published August 25, 2022 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

How many SARS-CoV-2 "viroporins" are really ion channels?

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Columbia University
  • 2. ROR icon University of California, Irvine
  • 3. ROR icon University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 4. ROR icon University of Milan
  • 5. ROR icon TU Darmstadt
  • 6. ROR icon Yale University
  • 7. ROR icon Washington University in St. Louis
  • 8. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses a small number of viral proteins to enter host cells and disrupt their activity, including the spike (S), membrane (M), and envelope (E) proteins, as well as a number of accessory proteins of unknown function (Orf3a, Orf8, Orf10, etc.), some of which may function to alter ion flux across membranes. Toft-Bertelsen et al.1 recently reported that the drug amantadine may interact with virally encoded ion channels and proposed that inhibitors of these "viroporins" might have therapeutic use in COVID-19. We concur with the idea that the E protein of SARS-CoV-2 can form an ion channel and that amantadine inhibits this channel, but we suggest below that a number of additional specific criteria need to be met in order for SARS-CoV-2 accessory proteins (Orf3a, Orf8, Orf10) to be accepted as having ion channel activity, and that further work will be necessary. This field represents a neglected area of overlap between biophysics and virology that continues to be understudied and underfunded and clearly merits greater attention from the relevant funding agencies.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
116720
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20220906-252586000

Funding

NIH
GM130377

Dates

Created
2022-09-08
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2022-09-08
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
COVID-19 , Division of Biology and Biological Engineering (BBE)