SARS-CoV-2 infection dramatically alters the intracellular environment of host cells to both enable virus replication and spread. There has been very rapid research about COVID-19 that has come out in the last couple of months. However, no specific antiviral drugs have been developed for SARS-CoV-2. Drug discovery is hindered by the fact that viruses do not have their own metabolism, but are dependent on the host.
Our lab developed a Gateway®-compatible MAC (Multiple Approaches Combined) –tag system that allows an easy way to probe the molecular level localization and interaction of protein of interest. The aim of our project is applying MAC-tag system to construct a comprehensive virus-host protein interaction network, which can be used to identify the cellular functions that are mandatory for viral replication and to develop host-targeting antivirals strategies against SARS-CoV-2.