Molecular Determinants of Virus-Sialic Acid Binding and its Role in Infection and Dissemination at distinct niches

Viruses are tiny infectious agents that rely on specific sugars called sialic acids (Sias), found on the surface of cells, to attach and enter host cells, leading to infection. This research focuses on understanding how different viruses, particularly the mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV), interact with these sugars and how this affects the virus' ability to infect various tissues and spread throughout the body. Current knowledge is limited when it comes to the details of how variations in the virus's binding proteins influence its behavior. Our study explores this by analyzing a range of MRV mutants with different binding strengths to Sias. Exciting preliminary findings suggest that viruses with weaker attachment to cells might actually sometimes have an advantage over stronger binders, and sometimes a disadvantage, depending on where they need to infect and spread to. We aim to map out how these different MRV variants interact with Sias, investigate their movement through different environments. MRV is a safe virus being evaluated as a cancer therapy, and so by enhancing our understanding of viral behavior through this research, we hope to improve the design of MRV for therapeutic purposes, making them more effective for fighting diseases like cancer. At the same time, many disease causing viruses like influenza and the virus that causes COVID-19 also use Sias, so our findings will shed light on how mutations in such viruses could also affect their behaviours in different environments.