COVID-RNA

COVID-RNA is a project led by Prof. Kresten Lindorff-Larsen from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The team aims to predict the structure and dynamics of selected structural elements in the non-coding region of the coronavirus' genome. Potentially, the project's results could reveal essential relationships that are crucial in the understanding of the viral replication, transcription, and packaging and discovering weaknesses in these processes that can be exploited to combat the virus. Furthermore, the scientists will use their models as a starting point to investigate the druggability of non-coding RNA regions by small molecules. The computational work will be carried out in collaboration with partners studying these molecules in biophysical experiments. Coronavirus genomes are single-stranded RNA of approximately 30k bases. Their genome contains protein-coding regions for the viral replication machinery, structural proteins, and accessory proteins. Additionally, untranslated regions (UTR) - 5'UTR and 3'UTR - act as elements that are decisive for viral replication, transcription, and packaging. Despite their functional relevance, detailed information on non-coding regions is scarce. PRACE awarded the project 20 000 000 core hours on Joliot-Curie Rome, hosted by GENCI at CEA, France and 352 000 core hours on Marconi100, hosted by CINECA, Italy.