Proteins on the surface of influenza A viruses are key to breaching our our bodies’ mucus limitations
Kateryna Kon/Science Picture Library
Earlier than viruses can infect cells, they need to first get to them, typically by traversing layers of the physique’s protecting mucus. Understanding how evolution optimised the influenza A virus for this slimy activity may assist us create new antiviral medication.
In case you simply dropped an influenza A virus into mucus, pure diffusion would by no means carry it to cells quick sufficient to trigger an an infection, says Siddhansh Agarwal on the College of California, Berkeley. Influenza A viruses – the one influenza…
