Scientists identify cell structure that can help develop new Covid-19 drugs

They said the viruses replicate by transforming host cell membranes into peculiar double-membrane vesicle (DMV) structures

Scientists have identified a structure in host cells which the novel coronavirus likely uses to synthesise components that will be assembled into fully infectious viruses, an advance which may lead to the development of new drugs against Covid-19.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, uncovers a coronavirus-specific structure in cells, which may act as a target for much-needed antiviral strategies against this family of viruses.

According to the scientists, including those from the Leibnitz Institute of Experimental Virology in Germany, coronaviruses replicate their large genomes in the host cell's cytosol -- the jelly-like material in which the components of the