You are a Picornavirus researcher who is trying to make a name for yourself. You have developed a drug that strongly inhibits certain Picornavirus infections. After getting very excited about it, you are dismayed to find a strain that is resistant to the drug. You arenât completely sure how the drug actually works, but it deals with lipid biogenesis. You suspect that itâs involved with formation of the viral factories (the Picornavirus field calls these âROâs or replication organelles).
The virus is an Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV). You name the mutant EMCV-mutA. For the first step, you wanted to see if the ROs formed at all. You infected cells with EMCV, EMCV-mutA, and mock infect. Both viruses produce the expected punctae (distinct dots) while viewed using immunofluorescence.
1) Please address each viral protein and why it may or may not be the problem. That is to say, if the expected punctae are being formed for both the WT and the mutant, and if you think this involves the ROs, where might the mutation be that allows this new virus to evade the drug?
2Apro
2B
2C
3Dpol