Guwahati, July 19: Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have been studying the African Swine Fever virus (ASFV), focusing on the virus’s proteins to understand how it infects and evades the immune system. Their goal is to develop effective control strategies against the virus.

The team, led by Prof. Sachin Kumar and including scholars Satyendu Nandy, Nilave Ranjan Bora, and Shubham Gaurav, has been examining a specific protein called p30 found on the virus’s outer shell. This protein is crucial because it helps the virus attach to and enter host cells. By binding to receptors on the host cell’s surface, p30 facilitates the fusion of the virus and cell membranes, a key step in the infection process. Additionally, membrane proteins like p30 help the virus hide from the host’s immune system.

By understanding these biochemical processes, researchers can better understand how viruses infect cells and develop treatments and vaccines that block these entry points. This research has been published in the journal Virology.

Prof. Sachin Kumar emphasized that their ongoing research aims to uncover the functions of proteins like p30, which are vital for the virus’s ability to infect and evade the immune response. The team has already made progress, having transferred technology to produce the first recombinant vaccine for the Swine Fever Virus.

The researchers have identified specific regions on the p30 protein that activate the host’s immune system, helping it recognize and respond to the virus. This knowledge is essential for developing ways to combat the infection. Recently, they have studied the protein’s RNase-like activity, an enzyme function that breaks down RNA, which is rare but significant in viruses. This activity helps the virus evade immune defences by degrading the host’s RNA.

To study this, the team exposed RNA from mammalian cells to the p30 protein and used techniques like electrophoresis and fluorimetry to measure the extent of RNA degradation. They found that the p30 protein’s ability to degrade RNA depends on its concentration and exposure time. This activity could help the virus alter host cell functions to promote its survival. Interestingly, changing a specific amino acid in p30 eliminated its RNA-degrading ability.

Understanding how the p30 protein affects host cell RNA helps researchers see how the virus manipulates cellular functions to survive and spread. This insight could lead to new therapies targeting these viral mechanisms, offering new ways to fight ASFV infections.

The researchers acknowledge that more questions need answering, such as the precise role of p30 in ASFV infection in pigs and whether its RNase activity targets specific host RNA molecules. They plan to investigate these aspects further.

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