Inhibition of Enveloped Virus Surrogate Phi6 Infection Using Yeast-Derived Vacuoles.

The periodic emergence of infectious disease poses a serious threat to human life. Among the causative agents, including pathogenic bacteria and fungi, enveloped viruses have caused global pandemics. In the last 10 years, outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Middle East respiratory syndrome have all been caused by enveloped viruses. Among several paths of secondary transmission, inhalation of aerosols containing saliva with sputum droplets from infected patients is the major path. To prevent these infectious diseases, mass use of antiviral agents is essential. The yeast-derived vacuole is a small organelle in which hydrolytic enzymes are concentrated. It is an intracellular organ with an excellent ability to process old organelles and bacteria and viruses that have invaded from the outside and can be present in sufficient quantity to be called a kind of enzyme bomb. We confirmed the inhibition of virus infection and structural collapse by vacuole treatment. Among several enzymes, proteases affected Phi6 infectivity. This study tried to isolate these vacuoles from yeast and use them as an antiviral agent for virus treatment, which is a recent issue. We confirmed that viral infectivity was inactivated, and structure collapsed through vacuole treatment. This paper is meaningful in that extracellularly isolated yeast-derived vacuoles are a first attempt to utilize vacuoles for viral treatment.