ANTIVIRAL SIGNALING IN MITOCHONDRIA: A POSSIBLE TARGET TO ATTENUATE CORONA VIRUS INFESTATION

Abstract

Mitochondria antiviral signaling form the basis of new technological innovations in the 
emergence of therapeutic concerns in virus pathogenesis. In this perspective mitochondria 
antiviral signaling may provide the main stream of evolution of host-virus protein interaction, 
anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic signaling and resolving the medical interventions by assessing 
the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics in virus invading mechanisms. The coronaviruses 
belong to the family mimiviridae in its unique feature of producing the VMC-I (Viral 
Mitochondrial Carrier Protein-I) that mimic the mitochondrial protein. VMC-I inhibit the 
mitochondrial protein to invade the infected cell hence lead to ATP insufficiency. Depleted 
ATP transmigrate the cell to death progression. Also, viral invasion triggers the pro-apoptotic 
signaling in the cell via caspase activated pathway on the contrary anti-apoptotic signaling of 
Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL genes provide the regulation of mitochondria mediated rescue for host cell.