Membrane heist: Coronavirus host membrane remodeling during replication

Abstract

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-2019), a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus strain, SARS-CoV-2, has affected more than 42 million people already, with more than one million deaths worldwide (as of October 25, 2020). We are in urgent need of therapeutic interventions that target the host-virus interface, which requires a molecular understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 life-cycle. Like other positive-sense RNA viruses, coronaviruses remodel intracellular membranes to form specialized viral replication compartments, including double-membrane vesicles (DMVs), where viral RNA genome replication takes place. Here we review the current knowledge of the structure, lipid composition, function, and biogenesis of coronavirus-induced DMVs, highlighting the druggable viral and cellular factors that are involved in the formation and function of DMVs.